BUSHUSHU, Democratic Republic of the Congo—On Monday, remains were still being discovered from two communities in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo where floods killed over 400 people last week in one of the country's biggest catastrophes in recent history.
Many bewildered survivors were lamenting the loss of many family members murdered in flash floods that washed away whole homes and buried the villages of Bushushu and Nyamukubi in mud and debris in South Kivu region.
Humanitarian workers have spent days retrieving mud-caked remains from destroyed communities in Kalehe area, where days of heavy rain forced landslides and rivers to burst their banks on Thursday.
“It is an unprecedented humanitarian disaster,” said government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya.
Due to the enormous number of deaths, workers have been forced to bury dead in freshly dug mass graves, according to footage uploaded online, which Reuters was unable to confirm immediately.
South Kivu governor Theo Ngwabidje Kasi reported just over 400 deaths early on Monday, more than tripling the toll since Friday.
According to civil society sources on the ground, it is expected to grow more because victims are still floating in waterways and buried beneath rubble. According to the United Nations, hundreds of individuals are still missing.
According to the Congolese Red Cross, 274 individuals have been buried thus far, including 98 women and 82 children.
According to the report, over 8,800 people were affected by the floodwaters, which swept away houses and schools and shut off roadways. It noted that destroyed sewage infrastructure and bodies lying amid rubble raise sanitary issues.
Families have been divided, and traumatized survivors have sought safety in other people's houses, according to the Red Cross.
“If I hadn’t gone to the market maybe I could have saved my children,” said mother of five Jolie Ambika Nathalie, 34, in Bushushu.
When the rain came, the charcoal merchant left her three youngest children at home to conduct an errand. When she returned, the house had been demolished, and her six, eight, and ten-year-old children were nowhere to be seen.
The central government has dispatched a team to the area and declared Monday a national holiday.
