The death toll reached 229! Serious landslide occurred in Ethiopia

According to Ethiopian media reports, on the evening of July 21, local time, a landslide occurred in the the Gofa Zone district of the southern Ethiopian state, causing heavy casualties and property losses, and the cumulative death toll has exceeded 229, and the number of casualties is expected to rise further.

According to the chairman of the local emergency response committee, rescue teams have found 229 bodies, including 148 men and 81 women, including children, but the death toll is likely to increase and rescue efforts are under way. However, some volunteers have pointed out that the lack of mechanical equipment poses great challenges to the search process.

It is understood that the cause of the landslide is that Ethiopia Yegasuefei about 100 kilometers of Gofa region recently suffered heavy rainfall, resulting in loose soil and led to landslides on the evening of the 21st. Rescue efforts were carried out immediately after the accident, but at about 10:00 in the morning of July 22, a second landslide occurred, burying rescue workers and onlookers, resulting in a significant increase in the death toll.

As early as April and early May this year, heavy rains and floods raged in southern Ethiopia, affecting more than 19000 people, displacing thousands of people and damaging infrastructure.

On July 19, the Ethiopian government issued a safety warning that Ethiopia would be at risk of widespread flooding due to heavy rainfall. And now Ethiopia is entering the heavy rain season, with frequent heavy rains from July to September, which will lead to the risk of flooding, waterlogging and landslides.

As a result, the Minister of State of Ethiopia listed Oromia, Afar, Somalee, Tigre, Gambera, Bensangulgumaz, Amhara, Southern and the capital Addis Ababa as areas likely to be affected by flooding.

In addition, the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia also took note of the incident and issued a circular. The notice said that June to October is the Ethiopian rainy season, heavy rainfall, easy to cause floods, landslides and other geological disasters. Therefore, Chinese citizens and institutions in Ethiopia are reminded to strengthen their awareness of natural disaster prevention, pay close attention to weather forecasts and all kinds of early warning information, and earnestly strengthen flood control and disaster prevention measures.

Moreover, the accident occurred in southern Ethiopia, where there are many coffee producing areas, such as kaffa, Djimmah and Yirgacheffe, and belong to Ethiopia's major commercial bean producing areas. In Ethiopia, coffee beans are harvested from October to March, during which heavy rains will knock down some berries, while floods and landslides will directly damage the coffee growing environment and part of the infrastructure, resulting in a reduction in coffee production.

At present, the Ethiopian coffee industry is full of difficulties, there have been conflicts in northern Ethiopia, and civil war may break out in the future. Recently, the southern region has to face disasters such as heavy rainfall, which has led to a reduction in coffee production. In addition the Red Sea crisis has been affecting Ethiopia's only port of Djibouti resulting in an impact on the export volume and physical costs of goods such as Ethiopian coffee. In this regard, many people in the coffee industry hope that the government can solve the problem as soon as possible.

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