A series of landslides in northern Ethiopia has claimed the lives of 23 people and displaced around 2,700 residents, regional authorities reported on Monday.
The United Nations humanitarian response agency, OCHA, has stated that heavy rains are causing flooding, landslides, and destruction across various regions of Ethiopia.
The latest landslides occurred in four districts in Amhara’s North Gondar Zone. According to the region’s disaster prevention office, 23 individuals have died and eight others have been injured.
The exact dates of these events were not specified, but regional media reported on Saturday that a landslide had already claimed ten lives.
With approximately three-quarters of its 120 million people living in rural areas, Ethiopia frequently suffers from climate-related disasters.
In July, a catastrophic mudslide occurred in the remote community of Kencho Shacha Gozdi in the south, marking the worst of such incidents in the nation’s recorded history.
OCHA initially reported 256 fatalities, with warnings that the number could rise to 500. By the end of July, the death toll had been revised to 236.
Following this disaster, six people were killed in the neighbouring Sidama regional state, and earlier this month, at least 11 more lives were lost in a landslide in the Wolaita administrative zone, also in southern Ethiopia.
The “long” rain season began in June and is expected to continue until September.