By Simon Ndive Kalla
A heavy down pour on July 24, resulted to a landslide in the Mbonjo neighbourhood in down beach Limbe, killing at least five persons and injuring many others. The double landslide is said to have occurred around 7 am, at the Manga hill in Mbonjo, along the Man’o war bay road in Limbe III. One of the landslides completely blocked the major road to Man’o war bay.
Reports have it that three persons (a young man and two little children whom he struggled to rescue), were the first to be buried when their home got submerged in the landslide. Reports continue that moments later, some who tried rescuing the victims (number uncertain), were equally hit by another landslide on the same spot, and while some succeeded to escape, others became victims themselves.
An eye witnessed who also participated during the rescue operation recounted that about 25 of them went to the house to rescue the people, and added that he himself was buried in the mud, but struggled and got out. He said he struggled to pullout one of the people (Mukom Smith) who came with him for the rescue but did not succeed. His remains were later removed from the mud and transferred to the Limbe regional hospital mortuary at mile I late in the afternoon. At press time, five bodies had been recovered from the mud.
The government delegate to the Limbe City Council, Motanga Andrew Monjimba mobilised the entire technical service of the Limbe City Council and municipal police which joined the rescue mission for three consecutive days.
As the search for the landslide victims continued, other areas remained flooded such as the New market area, homes, streets, stores, offices etc.
The flood and landslide in Limbe on Tuesday occurred 17 years after a similar landslide incident led to the loss of over 20 lives at the Mabeta New Layout area, on June 21, 2001.
So far, the five dead are said to be Ngongang Zephyrin, Mukom Smith, Mbu Williams, Arrey Marreline and Eyong David.
Governor urges inhabitants to quit risk zones
The Governor of the South West Region, Bernard Okalia Bilai has urged inhabitants of the Mbonjo neighborhood in Limbe III subdivision, to temporally leave the area, in order to avoid any further disaster from occurring. He said this during a working session on Wednesday July 25, 2018.
The Governor insists that the population should respect measures taken by local authorities not to build houses around risk zones. He regretted the fact that unfortunately the population does not respect those measures from the municipal authorities, and now they are facing the consequences.
Bernard Okalia emphasised hard that the population should quit the area, as they wait for the local authorities to properly and permanently relocate them. Quizzed if there is any largesse by the state to the affected victims, the south west boss said the minister of territorial administration has sent the director of civil protection to the field, and that actions will be taken in the days ahead.
It should be noted that this working session by the governor came barely a day after a heavy down pour in the city of Limbe resulted to floods and landslides which the latter is reported to have claimed many lives in the Mbonjo vicinity.