Kampala — A team of American troops has arrived in Bududa to assess the situation and co-ordinate support in the aftermath of a disastrous landslide that has killed more than 90 people and left thousand homeless.

Last Monday an avalanche of mud buried three villages in the mountainous Bududa District.

According to a situation report released by the Prime Minister's Office, 81 bodies have been recovered and over 300 people are still missing and feared dead. Sixteen casualties rescued from the rubble are in Bududa and Mbale hospitals.

The report said 871 people have been affected by the landslides that hit Nametsi, Kubweo and Namangasa villages in Bududa District.

On Tuesday, UPDF and Red Cross rescue teams rushed to Bududa but the rough terrain and blocked roads denied them easy access. Rescuers had to walk for three hours to the scene and used simple equipment like hoes and spades to try and reach people buried under the mud.

Before they arrived in Bududa, the US officers held a meeting with UPDF officers, including Col. Joseph Arocha - the head of disaster preparedness in the army. The meeting held at Mt. Elgon Hotel discussed the needs of Bududa after the landslides and areas of need for US support.

The American government has donated $50,000 (sh98m) to be used to fund a grant to the Uganda Red Cross to provide immediate assistance to the affected people. According to a press release, the fund will also assist survivors and the victims of flooding in Butaleja, Budaka, Pallisa, Tororo, Mbale and Manafwa districts.

"The donation will be used to purchase 650 household kits, containing plastic sheets, blankets, kitchen utensils and tools, for 650 victims of the landslides in Mbale," the statement said.

"The US Ambassador Jerry P. Lanier has expressed his condolences to the families of those who perished in the Bududa District landslides and has pledged that the US Government will continue to monitor the situation in the East and support the response of the Ugandan Government to the landslides and flooding."

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister, Prof. Apolo Nsibambi, who was in the disaster -stricken district conveyed the Government's sympathies to the people of Bududa.

Nsibambi told the bereaved that the Government was sorry about the disaster and promised solution would be worked out to deal with the menace of landslides in the region.

"Government is truly sorry for the incident in which our people lost their lives," Nsibambi told the distressed displaced people.

"We are dedicated to finding a permanent solution to this disaster so that when it re-occurs, it doesn't cause deaths and loss of property.

Addressing a rally at Bukalasi trading centre, the premier observed that in the interim, the Government would keep the displaced residents in internally displaced people's camps and provide all the basic requirements for them.

In the long run, he said, the Government will secure land and relocate the residents away from the slopes of Mountain Elgon, which are prone to landslides after torrential rains.

President Yoweri Museveni while touring the landside scene on Tuesday, directed that all residents vacate the slopes susceptible to landslides, to secure areas of Bukalasi and Bulucheke.

Nsibambi blasted politicians who are disparaging the Government claiming that it had done little to alleviate the suffering of the people and had left the work to non-governmental organisations.

"Those statements should be dismissed with costs because they are obviously not true," Nsibambi countered.

The leader of government business in Parliament pointed out that the army and Police will, besides helping in the search for dead bodies, maintain law and order.

What happened in Bududa?

It was like an ambush. The sudden movement of a huge rock weighing about 10,000 tonnes took many people in the trading centre on the slopes of Mount Elgon by surprise.

According to Goretti Kitutu of the National Environment Management Authority, who has studied landslides in the region for a decade, the rock was partly hidden under the earth.

"Water collected in the soil behind the rock for sometime and when it saturated, it pushed down the boulder," said Kitutu.

"It happened so fast and before it moved, the mixture of the soil and water around the boulder must have splashed like porridge."

Kitutu, who has been on the ground for the whole of last week, told Sunday Vision that accounts from the local people indicate that they did not know there was a 'time bomb' in their neighbourhood.

"I talked to one of the local people and he told me they even used to take shelter under the rock," she said.

At one point, people who were leaving on the western side of Bududa noticed a crack in a hanging rock and vacated.

"The rock gave way later in the night and they were able to save their lives.

The rock only destroyed their houses, but they all survived," she said.

Kitutu described the landslide as a 'debris flow' and that it covered a distance of 800 metres. It was also 250 metres on the wide side and 70 metres on the narrow end.

"It came down with a very strong force and the houses it crushed before it stopped shows the force was too strong," Kitutu said.