Residents of Asutan street, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State are still expressing shock on how three children from the same family survived a landslide which hit their house.
Daily Trust on Saturday reports that residents of Onyeagoro, Anyanwuocha and Trinity communities in Owerri North Local Government Area of Imo State, are contending with a similar challenge.
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In Akwa Ibom, the three children: Aisha Umaru (9), Yusuf Ibrahim (6) and Fatima Ibrahim (5) had barely left their kitchen on Sunday, September 13, 2020, after preparing their evening meals when the incident happened.
According to Aisha, one of the three children, “I was in the house with our mother; we were praying when someone came to look at the ravine, then one woman said it was the ravine that cut.
“So, when people came, it was discovered that our kitchen had fallen, all our clothes went into the ravine with the kitchen.”
Like the kitchen of the Umarus, the ravine area is surrounded by many houses.
The landslide which was caused by the gradual encroachment of the ravine into residential areas has compelled residents of the area to re-echo their appeal for government’s intervention.
According to Mr Austin Iton, a resident of Bassey Attah, an adjoining street to where the landslide happened, the ravine has been existing for over 50 years and has not been a threat to residents.
He said, “I have lived here for over 45 years and I was born to see that ravine.
“It used to be a dump site until the efforts of my late father, Obong Sunday Ekanem fought it out and they took the dump site to the old stadium road before it was moved to Uyo village road.”
Iton revealed that the ravine became a problem when the streets in the area were constructed about two years ago.
He stated that as a result, all the flood water from around the vicinity and beyond empties itself into the ravine, thereby weakening the fabrics of the ravine and causing it to cave in.
“We started having issues on this ravine about two or three years ago when there was a massive construction job by the state government.
“The adjoining streets of Udo street, Ibiakon, Bassey Attah, Ebong had that massive construction.
“The ravine keeps collapsing every day and despite the appeal from the media, residents and village heads that have tried to talk to the government about this issue, it has been from one promise to the other.”
“The rate at which this ravine is collapsing is alarming and it is threatening so many properties worth millions of naira.
“So, I am appealing to the state government to intervene,” he said.
The landlord of the affected house, Mr Francis Ikpe, who collaborated the position of Iton, said the community has been living with the erosion for 30 years.
He said the erosion problem was heightened when the state government embarked on street repairs and construction of drainages.
He said as a result of the repairs, water from six adjoining streets were channeled to the area without a chamber constructed to receive the volume of water.
“It was a devastating experience.
“Three children were preparing their meals in the kitchen.
“After they left the kitchen, it was not even up to five minutes, when the kitchen collapsed.
“The children were eating when suddenly there was a bang, the kitchen and everything inside it was buried.
“They would have been trapped; it was a miracle.
“We have lived with the erosion for more than 30 years; the dimension was not as disastrous as it is now.
“Whenever it rains, the volume of water increases, and this has been posing threat to lives and properties” he stated.
Government urges residents to relocate
The government is however saying that the residents of the area would have to relocate, as the houses around the ravine would be pulled down.
The Commissioner of Environment and Petroleum Resources, Mr Charles Udoh said the areas surrounding the ravine must be decongested.
“We are going to seek the permission of His Excellency, the governor to take those houses down because the money we are spending in Etim Umana and Anua would be useless if we don’t deal with it now, and this is part of the problem.
“We have also asked people that when you see situations like this, you need to move away.
“Human activities also contribute to this.
“So, everybody has a responsibility to ensure that when you see situations like this, you don’t build houses near that place or engage in activities around there.
“Of course, I need to make a formal report to government.
“Instantly, we are going to get people to relocate from here.
“Straight away, I am going to make a report to the governor, and we are going to take action to see how we are going to get people to move away because if people don’t move away, it is going to continue.
“First thing is for people to move away to allow the place to breathe, because with human activities, we are putting pressure on the weak surface and the place will continue to cave in as the rains come on us,” he stated.
He said the ministry would carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of all related projects in the state to ensure that the problem does not repeat itself.
“We need assistance from the World Bank, the ecological fund and the federal government to be able to deal with the problem.
“The state government alone cannot do this. Everyone has a responsibility,” he said.
Residents count losses in Imo
Meanwhile, downpour has wreaked havoc on residents of Onyeagoro, Anyanwuocha and Trinity communities in Owerri North Local Government Area of Imo State.
The downpour, according to residents, rendered many homeless as their houses were destroyed.
Chairman of the Trinity community, Mike Okafor, who gave a genesis of the flood in the area, said that for three years, the state government had failed to act on their complaints until the situation got out of hand.
He said when the flood started seeping into their community in 2017, they ought to resort to communal help to address the situation.
He said, “There is an erosion site which empties into the Nworie River.
“For long, this situation had remained like this until 2017 when former governor, Rochas Okorocha decided to reconstruct the Orlu – Owerri road.
“While doing that, all the drainages along the major highways were blocked.
“In their place, narrow gutters were built by the contractors, thereby creating an over flow.
“The flooding from nearby communities of Egbeada, Ubomiri and Mbieri, were diverted to Akwakuma and as water would find its natural cause, the obvious route is our area.
“In the process, all the gutters, including bridges we built through communal efforts were blocked.”
The chairman said that all the residents of the area have evacuated some of their belongings, including cars as they cannot gain access to their houses.
Okafor said that though the official of the present administration in the state had visited the area, nothing has been done.
“We had to resort to some palliative measures, like blocking the route of the flooding, to avoid further damages,” he said.
While counting their losses, Okafor said, “We have lost millions of naira to this flood.
“For now, a complete bungalow had been swept away and two two-storey buildings are under serious threat.”
He said about 10 families cannot have access to their houses. “The state government had asked them to move away from the houses, but where are they going?
“For now, the government has done nothing.
“All the palliative measures were done by us.
“In 2017, we spent about N1.2 million to provide some erosion control measures, but they were swept off in 2018.
“Again, we spent close to a million naira, but it was not enough.
“Each landlord contributed N80,000 to build embankment in August, but Tuesday’s rains swept them away.
“We need the government to provide temporary measures and for the Federal government through FERMA and NEMA to provide a permanent solution,” he said.
Another resident of the area, Mrs. Cynthia Ezenwa, said that since they relocated to the area in 2013, they have not experienced floods.
Lamenting the failure of the state government to intervene, she said, “ If we want to go out, we go round and round, even to fetch water for our daily use.”
Reacting to the development, the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, said that the state government had dispatched officials of SEMA and ministry of environment to assess the situation and report back.
For a lasting solution, he said, “the state government is liaising with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for appropriate erosion control measures.”
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