Latest news with #ZamhallNansamba
Times of Oman
7 days ago
- General
- Times of Oman
Uganda still battling waste disaster one year on
Kampala: Zamhall Nansamba stands in front of her house in Kiteezi, a suburb of Uganda's capital Kampala, her 1-year-old son in her arms. Flies buzz around her, and the smell of garbage fills the air. Her flip-flops keep her feet just above the muddy dirt floor. One year ago, on August 9, 2024, an avalanche of rubbish from the adjacent landfill almost buried Nansamba's family and her home. The mother of two says she was extremely lucky. "I got up early that morning to do the housework," she recalls. "When I heard a noise I went outside. I saw the trees and the rubbish coming," she says, her lips trembling. "I grabbed my two children and we ran." The 31-year-old points up at a huge mountain of waste —Kampala's municipal landfill — towering above her detached house. Last August, tons of waste thundered down the slope and buried more than 70 houses. Thirty-four bodies were recovered, more than 20 people are still missing and some 220 residents were left homeless. Later, officials said a methane explosion triggered the landslide. That day completely changed life for Nansamba's family. When she returned to see if her house was still standing, she found the building intact, but many others destroyed and the cows in the neighboring meadow were all dead. "Some of the people lost their property, lost their lives," she tells DW. "Until now, we are living a miserable life. We had rental apartments down there, and I was able to pay my children's school fees with the income from those apartments." What happens now with Kampala's waste? Immediately after the disaster, the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) told residents living near the landslide to move over the risk of further collapse. But families like Nansamba's, who live in this poor neighbourhood on Kampala's northern outskirts, have no money to settle elsewhere. Fear of another potential landslide keeps her awake at night, says Nansamba. Her husband is undergoing psychiatric treatment. "We are all traumatised," she says. Immediately after the landslide, the KCCA closed the landfill in Kiteezi, where all the waste from the 2-million-strong metropolis has been piling up unsorted for over 27 years. City spokesperson Daniel Nuweabine told DW the Japanese government recently provided $1 million (about €860,000) in funding to secure the landfill, flying in machinery and Japanese engineers. Work included compressing about 500,000 tonnes of waste. "This is a huge task. These are high-risk areas where methane gas is present in the ground and the pressure can open cracks and easily trigger further avalanches," said Nuweabine. The Kiteezi landfill is now officially closed. But where do the 2,000 tons of waste go that Kampala produces daily? Nuweabine said the KCCA bought 90 hectares of land in Buyala, 27 kilometres (16.7 miles) west of Kampala, in March to build a new landfill. The municipality has big plans for processing the city's waste, he said, Those include a composting project to create biogas. An estimated 80% of household trash is compostable biowaste, composed mainly of organic matter, because Kampala residents rarely eat processed food. The rest could be recycled, Nuweabine said. In early 2024, the German Chamber of Commerce Abroad held a conference in Kampala on the circular economy and waste processing, with companies such as Siemens listening to the Environment Ministry's plans to recycle more materials — still a rare process in Africa. Uganda's new landfills won't just be dumping grounds, but will also be recycling centres. New dumping ground proves controversial But so far, the idea lacks investors and funding. Unsorted waste is still being dumped in Buyala, which remains controversial, according to Aldon Walukamba, spokesperson for Uganda's National Forestry Authority. "To our knowledge, this is still a forest reserve," Walukamba told DW. "It is located in the catchment area of the Mayanja River, a key contributor to Lake Victoria and its biodiversity ecosystem." But, he added, "we found that indeed some garbage had been dumped." When Walukamba went to the area himself in December 2024, soldiers and police officers were on site. In Uganda, the parliament and president must give their approval before forest reserves can be released for other uses. "This wasn't done," said Walukamba. He suspects the city administration and the previous landowners worked together "hastily and illegally" to secure the sale of the land. The controversy has sparked several court cases. The KCCA insists the land near Buyala, where garbage is now being dumped, belonged to two private individuals from whom KCCA legally acquired the land in March. A court ordered an investigation into whether it was a reserve. "The report found the land in question is not part of the forest reserve," said KCCA spokesperson Nuweabine. Back in Kiteezi, the victims of the landslide that kicked everything off are still waiting for compensation to allow them to live somewhere safe. Speaking with DW, Nuweabine said that just recently a cabinet meeting had drafted a memorandum and an order had been issued to the relevant Finance Ministry to pay victims.
Yahoo
09-08-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Uganda still battling waste disaster one year on
Zamhall Nansamba stands in front of her house in Kiteezi, a suburb of Uganda's capital Kampala, her one-year-old son in her arms. Flies buzz around her, the smell of garbage filling the air. Her flip-flops keep her feet just above the muddy dirt floor. One year ago, on August 9, 2024, an avalanche of rubbish from the adjacent landfill almost buried Nansamba's family and her home. The mother of two says she was extremely lucky: "I got up early that morning to do the housework," she recalls. "When I heard a noise I went outside. I saw the trees and the rubbish coming." Her lips tremble as she recounts, "I grabbed my two children and we ran." The 31-year-old points up at a huge mountain of waste – Kampala's municipal landfill – towering above her detached house. In 2024, tons of waste thundered down the slope and buried more than 70 houses. 34 bodies were recovered, and more than 20 people are still missing. More than 220 residents were left homeless. Later, officials said a methane explosion triggered the landslide. That day completely changed Nansamba's family's life. When she returned to see if her house was still standing, she found the building intact, but many others destroyed and the cows in the neighboring meadow were all dead. "Some of the people lost their property, lost their lives," she tells DW. "Until now, we are living a miserable life. We had rental apartments down there, and I was able to pay my children's school fees with the income from those apartments." Japanese help Immediately after the disaster, the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) told residents living near the landslide to move because the landfill could slide further. But families like Nansamba's, who live in this poor neighborhood on the northern outskirts of Kampala, have no money to settle elsewhere. Fear of another potential avalanche keeps her awake at night, Nansamba says. Her husband is undergoing psychiatric treatment. "We are all traumatized," she tells DW. Immediately after the landslide, the KCCA closed the landfill in Kiteezi, where all the waste from the two-million-strong metropolis has been piling up unsorted for over 27 years. City spokesperson Daniel Nuweabine told DW the Japanese government recently provided $1 million in funding to secure the landfill, flying in machinery and Japanese engineers. Work included compressing about 500,000 tonnes of waste. "This is a huge task. These are high-risk areas where methane gas is present in the ground and the pressure can open cracks and easily trigger further avalanches," says Nuweabine. The Kiteezi landfill is now officially closed. But where do the 2,000 tonnes of waste go that Kampala produces daily? Nuweabine says in March the KCCA bought 90 hectares of land in Buyala, 27 kilometers west of Kampala, to build a new landfill. The municipality has big plans for processing the city's waste, the spokesperson said, which includes a composting project to create biogas. An estimated 80% of household trash is compostable biowaste, because Kampala residents rarely use processed food. The rest could be recycled, Nuweabine says. In early 2024, the German Chamber of Foreign Trade held a conference on the circular economy and waste processing in Kampala. Companies such as Siemens heard the Ugandan Ministry of Environment's plans to recycle more materials. New landfills are to become recycling centers. Controversial land issue But so far, the idea lacks investors and funding. Unsorted waste is still being dumped in Buyala, which remains controversial, according to Aldon Walukamba, spokesperson for Uganda's National Forestry Authority. "To our knowledge, this is still a forest reserve," Walukamba tells DW. "It is located in the catchment area of the Mayanja River, a key contributor to Lake Victoria and its biodiversity ecosystem." "We found that indeed some garbage had been dumped," Walukamba said. When he went there himself in December 2024, soldiers and police officers were on site. In Uganda, the parliament and president must give approval before forest reserves can be degazetted for use. "This wasn't done," says Walukamba. He suspects the city administration and the previous landowners worked together "hastily and illegally" to secure the sale of the land. The controversy has sparked several court cases. The KCCA insists the land near Buyala, where garbage is now being dumped, belonged to two private individuals from whom KCCA legally acquired the land in March. A court ordered an investigation into whether it was a reserve. KCCA spokesperson Nuweabine told DW: "The report found the land in question is not part of the forest reserve." In Kiteezi the victims of the landslide that kicked everything off are still waiting for compensation to allow them to live somewhere safe. Nuweabine told DW that just recently a cabinet meeting had drafted a memorandum, and an order had been issued to the relevant finance ministry to pay victims. "The people shall be compensated," he told DW. This article was originally published in German.
Malay Mail
07-08-2025
- General
- Malay Mail
Still buried: A year after landfill collapse, Ugandans await justice and compensation
KAMPALA, Aug 7 — When the giant landfill collapsed in Uganda's capital Kampala a year ago, Zamhall Nansamba thought she was hearing an aeroplane taking off. Then came screams and a giant wave of garbage rushing towards her, ripping up trees as it went. Nansamba, 31, grabbed her children and ran. She was luckier than most — the avalanche of waste killed some 35 people before stopping at her doorstep. Many survivors of the collapse at the Kiteezi dump on August 9, 2024, have yet to be compensated for their losses, leaving them trapped at the dangerous garbage site. 'We are living a miserable life,' Nansamba told AFP. Kiteezi is the largest landfill in Kampala, serving the city's residents since 1996, receiving 2,500 tonnes of waste daily. City authorities recommended closing it when it reached capacity in 2015, but garbage kept coming. The disaster highlighted the challenge of managing waste in many rapidly urbanising African cities. A 2017 landfill collapse in Ethiopia killed 116 people. A year later, 17 died after heavy rain caused a landslide at a dump in Mozambique. A Red Cross officer runs for help following a landfill collapse in Kampala on August 10, 2024. — AFP pic It doesn't help that wealthier countries send vast amounts of waste to Africa, particularly second-hand clothes, computers and cars. In 2019, the United States exported some 900 million items of second-hand clothing to Kenya alone, more than half designated as waste, according to Changing Markets Foundation, an advocacy group. The Kiteezi collapse 'could have been avoided', said Ivan Bamweyana, a scholar of geomatics at Kampala's Makerere University. For a decade, he said, the landfill grew vertically until it reached a height of more than 10 metres. Early on the fateful morning, rain seeped into the landfill's cracks, causing a fatal cascade. 'What is coming can still be avoided,' Bamweyana said, of the continued risks at the site. Another crash? The landfill continues to emit methane gas, which caused fires in February and June. While no longer in official use, locals sneak up its slopes to eke out a living collecting plastic bottles to sell. 'I would not be shocked if there was a secondary crash,' Bamweyana said. Official figures of the number of homes destroyed vary, but it is certain that dozens disappeared in the initial incident, with more totalled during the hunt for bodies. A Red Cross spokesperson said many of the 233 people displaced have still not received compensation. People search for others trapped under debris after a landfill collapsed in Kampala on August 10, 2024. — AFP pic Shadia Nanyongo's home was buried and she now shares a single room with six other family members. The 29-year-old told AFP she had still not been compensated. The family eats one meal a day and at night squeezes together on two mattresses on the floor. 'I pray to God to come with money, because this situation is not easy,' Nanyongo said. Her friend, fellow survivor Nansamba, still lives on the edge of the landfill. The stench of garbage fills her house and the area is infested with vermin. She said her children get bacterial infections at least three times a month. Nansamba would like to move but cannot afford to unless the government, which promised compensation, pays out for other houses she owned and rented out and lost in the disaster. Her own house was not destroyed. Memories of the collapse keep her up at night. 'You hear dogs barking... you think ghosts have come,' she said. People collect garbage at a landfill a few hours after its collapse in Kampala on August 10, 2024. — AFP pic 'Hurriedly and illegally' Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) told AFP that compensation would be paid out in September and a new landfill site had been chosen in Mpigi district, around 30 kilometres from the city centre. KCCA says everything has been done legally, but the National Forestry Authority (NFA) told AFP that the new garbage site infringes on a protected forest and wetlands reserve and that city authorities began dumping at the site in late 2024 without their knowledge. 'They did it hurriedly (and) illegally,' said NFA spokesperson Aldon Walukamba. The city is home to some 1.7 million, according to last year's census, and continues to grow — meaning such trade-offs between trash and the environment will likely continue. For Bamweyana, the scholar, what is needed is education about waste and recycling. 'We cannot keep solving the problem using the same mechanism that created it,' he said. — AFP
Yahoo
06-08-2025
- General
- Yahoo
A year on, Ugandans still suffering from deadly garbage collapse
When the giant landfill collapsed in Uganda's capital Kampala a year ago, Zamhall Nansamba thought she was hearing an aeroplane taking off. Then came screams and a giant wave of garbage rushing towards her, ripping up trees as it went. Nansamba, 31, grabbed her children and ran. She was luckier than most -- the avalanche of waste killed some 35 people before stopping at her doorstep. Many survivors of the collapse at the Kiteezi dump on August 9, 2024, have yet to be compensated for their losses, leaving them trapped at the dangerous garbage site. "We are living a miserable life," Nansamba told AFP. Kiteezi is the largest landfill in Kampala, serving the city's residents since 1996, receiving 2,500 tonnes of waste daily. City authorities recommended closing it when it reached capacity in 2015, but garbage kept coming. The disaster highlighted the challenge of managing waste in many rapidly urbanising African cities. A 2017 landfill collapse in Ethiopia killed 116 people. A year later, 17 died after heavy rain caused a landslide at a dump in Mozambique. It doesn't help that wealthier countries send vast amounts of waste to Africa, particularly second-hand clothes, computers and cars. In 2019, the United States exported some 900 million items of second-hand clothing to Kenya alone, more than half designated as waste, according to Changing Markets Foundation, an advocacy group. The Kiteezi collapse "could have been avoided", said Ivan Bamweyana, a scholar of geomatics at Kampala's Makerere University. For a decade, he said, the landfill grew vertically until it reached a height of some 30 metres (98 feet). Early on the fateful morning, rain seeped into the landfill's cracks, causing a fatal cascade. "What is coming can still be avoided," Bamweyana said, of the continued risks at the site. - Another crash? - The landfill continues to emit methane gas, which caused fires in February and June. While no longer in official use, locals sneak up its slopes to eke out a living collecting plastic bottles to sell. "I would not be shocked if there was a secondary crash," Bamweyana said. Official figures of the number of homes destroyed vary, but it is certain that dozens disappeared in the initial incident, with more totalled during the hunt for bodies. A Red Cross spokesperson said many of the 233 people displaced have still not received compensation. Shadia Nanyongo's home was buried and she now shares a single room with six other family members. The 29-year-old told AFP she had still not been compensated. The family eats one meal a day and at night squeezes together on two mattresses on the floor. "I pray to God to come with money, because this situation is not easy," Nanyongo said. Her friend, fellow survivor Nansamba, still lives on the edge of the landfill. The stench of garbage fills her house and the area is infested with vermin. She said her children get bacterial infections at least three times a month. Nansamba would like to move but cannot afford to unless the government, which promised compensation, pays out for other houses she owned and rented out and lost in the disaster. Her own house was not destroyed. Memories of the collapse keep her up at night. "You hear dogs barking... you think ghosts have come," she said. - 'Hurriedly and illegally' - Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) told AFP that compensation would be paid out in September and a new landfill site had been chosen in Mpigi district, around 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the city centre. KCCA says everything has been done legally, but the National Forestry Authority (NFA) told AFP that the new garbage site infringes on a protected forest and wetlands reserve and that city authorities began dumping at the site in late 2024 without their knowledge. "They did it hurriedly (and) illegally," said NFA spokesperson Aldon Walukamba. The city is home to some 1.7 million, according to last year's census, and continues to grow -- meaning such trade-offs between trash and the environment will likely continue. For Bamweyana, the scholar, what is needed is education about waste and recycling. "We cannot keep solving the problem using the same mechanism that created it," he said. str-er/rbu/kjm/cw
