Sierra Leone: Once Sparkling Community in Ruins
August 28 2017 By Abiodun Giwa
Olusegun Obasanjo and Bai Koroma in the hospital (Courtesy: CocoriokoNewspapers)
Two eminent personalities had visited Sierra Leone and commiserated with government and people of the country, over recent mudslide incident that killed more than 300 people and destroyed unquantifiable properties.
The two personalities are former President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Parminder Brar, Country manager of World Bank in the country. Obasanjo was accompanied by Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma on his visit to Martomeh Community at Regent, the scene of the mudslide and to the hospital, where survivors have been receiving treatment, according to Cocorioko newspaper.
Brar had a memorable encounter with the survivors who spoke about the experience. A glimpse from Brar's note shows Martomeh community at regent as once sparkling community in ruins, according to Saidu Bangura, a resident at Pentagon who spoke to Brar in a report by Awoko newspaper.
Below are Bangura's words, "The community hosted hundreds of houses (concrete and makeshift – ‘pan bodies’) but all are now being covered by giant rocks and mud hauled from Mount Sugar Loaf. “I first saw very thick smoke in the skies and within minutes, there was a deafening blast coming from the Regent end. All we could see now were houses being washed away by floods,” he narrated his ordeal. “The height of the flowing flood water was the reason for the untold destruction that happened; even very big houses were washed away.”
According to the report, Bangura showed evidence of the destruction from his phone, which he used to filming of the incident, even as he wrestled with the muddy water to save some of his property. He said I saw over 20 people clinging onto branches of a mango tree, crying to be rescued; but the height and volume of the water would not allow anyone to reach them, and were eventually swept away as a giant boulder knocked down the tree.
Another survivor, Aminata Thulla, said she lost 20 family members to the disaster but only the bodies of seven could be found. She narrated the rescue of her younger sibling’s one-month-old baby by a rescue team four hours after he was swept away from his mother, who didn’t survive the disaster. The boy is recovering at a private clinic at Lumley.
Unisa Bangura is reported to have narrowly escaped death. His house was located very close to a running stream, didn’t take long to be overwhelmed by the floods. He said he had decided to go back to sleep after performing the early morning Muslim prayers when he heard a loud blast.
“I rushed outside to see what was happening and I saw water and rocks pounding houses,” he said. “Then I realized we are in serious trouble. I had to dash for safety, leaving behind all that I had worked for in my entire life.”He said majority of residents at Kamayama and neighboring communities are poor people, and may have formed a large percentage of victims of the disaster. He said the community was congested with houses and people because acquiring land there was cheap.
The two personalities are former President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Parminder Brar, Country manager of World Bank in the country. Obasanjo was accompanied by Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma on his visit to Martomeh Community at Regent, the scene of the mudslide and to the hospital, where survivors have been receiving treatment, according to Cocorioko newspaper.
Brar had a memorable encounter with the survivors who spoke about the experience. A glimpse from Brar's note shows Martomeh community at regent as once sparkling community in ruins, according to Saidu Bangura, a resident at Pentagon who spoke to Brar in a report by Awoko newspaper.
Below are Bangura's words, "The community hosted hundreds of houses (concrete and makeshift – ‘pan bodies’) but all are now being covered by giant rocks and mud hauled from Mount Sugar Loaf. “I first saw very thick smoke in the skies and within minutes, there was a deafening blast coming from the Regent end. All we could see now were houses being washed away by floods,” he narrated his ordeal. “The height of the flowing flood water was the reason for the untold destruction that happened; even very big houses were washed away.”
According to the report, Bangura showed evidence of the destruction from his phone, which he used to filming of the incident, even as he wrestled with the muddy water to save some of his property. He said I saw over 20 people clinging onto branches of a mango tree, crying to be rescued; but the height and volume of the water would not allow anyone to reach them, and were eventually swept away as a giant boulder knocked down the tree.
Another survivor, Aminata Thulla, said she lost 20 family members to the disaster but only the bodies of seven could be found. She narrated the rescue of her younger sibling’s one-month-old baby by a rescue team four hours after he was swept away from his mother, who didn’t survive the disaster. The boy is recovering at a private clinic at Lumley.
Unisa Bangura is reported to have narrowly escaped death. His house was located very close to a running stream, didn’t take long to be overwhelmed by the floods. He said he had decided to go back to sleep after performing the early morning Muslim prayers when he heard a loud blast.
“I rushed outside to see what was happening and I saw water and rocks pounding houses,” he said. “Then I realized we are in serious trouble. I had to dash for safety, leaving behind all that I had worked for in my entire life.”He said majority of residents at Kamayama and neighboring communities are poor people, and may have formed a large percentage of victims of the disaster. He said the community was congested with houses and people because acquiring land there was cheap.
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