Glimmer of hope at last after Hanang disaster devastation

Arusha. The skies were clear, some businesses reopened and a flicker of hope beckoned in Hanang after three days of anguish.

Katesh and Gendabi, which were severely devastated by the killer mudslide on Sunday, appeared on the road to normalcy yesterday.

The two townships on the slopes of Mt Hanang, but roughly 20 kilometres apart,lost 69 people and nearly 120 injured in the horrific floods.

But there was an aura of hope yesterday as some businesses reopened while the roads and streets were cleared of logs and other debris.

This is as the anguished residents of the two centres were in deep mourning never seen before as they gathered in different spots to bury their dead victims.

Teams of rescue workers were clearing the muddy and clogged streets and trenches of boulders,logs and debris brought downstream by water gushing from the mountain.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who cut short her trip to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for COP 28, will visit the areas affected by the floods today.

The cabinet ministers camped at Katesh, the district headquarters, kept on ordering accelerated rehabilitation of the damaged infrastructure to allow business to return to normal.

Innocent Bashungwa, the minister for Works said there should be no excuses as to why the equipment dispatched there should be short of fuel.

"You should work day and night to clear the town (Katesh) of debris. The focus should be on the market area,” he told some residents in the town centre.

As the minister spoke, traffic appeared to slowly back to normal on the main Babati-Singida road which was briefly blocked on Sunday.

Mr. Bashungwa said that more heavy duty equipment had been ordered to rehabilitate the roads which were damaged by the flash floods.

He added that the multi-agency government team handling the disaster was committed to ensure everything was back to normal by the time the president arrives there today.

"We are getting updates from the ground every one hour,” noting that President Hassan was being regularly briefed on the rehabilitation efforts.

Several residents gathered to listen to the ministers in one of the streets of the district town with clear signs that they had been devastated.

Some appeared still shocked by the calamity never seen before in the town that has several seasonal streams cutting through it but which posed no harm in the rainy seasons.

But there was hope that the situation could soon return to normal for the shocked Katesh residents if the TV images are anything to go by.

They showed clear skies over Katesh with the towering Mount Hanang clearly visible from behind despite another heavy downpour reported on Monday night.

The caterpillars and graders were working on one of the roads by removing much which had made it impassable, another hope that the road network would be back to normal.

As the ministers spoke, some business people said they had reopened their shops and kiosks although the damage was monumental.

In Katesh, the district headquarters, much of the rehabilitation work had focussed at the market where the stalls were swept away.

One of the traders said he lost several bags of grains worth millions of shillings as they were washed away and that he was at a loss of where to start afresh.

Much concentration of the rescue efforts were at Katesh town centre, along the main Babati-Singida which was rendered impassable on Sunday.

The other focus was on the main bus terminal, a famous stop-over for buses heading to the western and Lake Zone regions from Arusha.

The rescue teams also spread to the Gedang'onyi residential area towards Mt. Hanang where several houses were knocked down by the flash floods, killing people.

Rescue operations and rehabilitation of the destroyed infrastructure were extended to Jarodom village on the margins of the Hanang forest reserve where the impact was equally high.

A similar exercise was underway at Gendabi village, which is approximately 20 km from Katesh on the western side of Mt Hanang.

Many of those who have been affected said they appreciated the way the government responded to the crisis and support from the well wishers.

However, for others, the pain of losing their loved ones remained. A resident of Gedang'onyi told the ministers that he was devastated after losing eight neighbours.

"Many people are not yet settled because burials are everywhere,” said the man in question who identified himself as Kiwelu.

At Jarodom, near the source of the springs which spewed the killer waters, a family buried seven of its members while in the neighbourhood one young kids was still not accounted for.

He added that the Katesh people were likely to face the food crisis due to the floods which damaged 750 acres of crops and bags of grains.

President Hassan who jetted home from the UAE on Tuesday will be travelling to Hanang this morning to get first hand experience of the calamity which has shocked the nation.

Immediately after it struck, President Hassan ordered all government efforts be directed towards rescuing people and preventing further damage.

She said she had received the information with great shock and that she was returning home to deal with the catastrophe.

According to a report by the Hanang District Council,a total of 1,150 houses were damaged as were 750 acres of crops by Tuesday.

The prime minister has been in Hanang on Monday and Tuesday where he tasked the government ministries and other agencies to coordinate their activities in order to restore essential services disrupted by the tragedy.

These include power which was disconnected as the electricity poles were swept away by the raging waters and mud.

Geological experts, in their initial report, believe the calamity could have been caused by disintegration of rain-soaked soils and rocks on the mountain.