Hello,
This week has been marred by tragedy and death from extreme weather events around the world. The first two newsletters of the year focused on the effects of the earthquake that hit Japan on New Year’s Day. Today’s Sustainable Switch sheds light on a flood that killed at least 40 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
At least 20 people died in Bukavu and at least 20 more were killed in the village of Burinyi, 50 km (31 miles) from Bukavu, according to local officials.
Bukavu resident Yvonne Mukupi, who managed to stay clear of the deluge, said her neighbor was swept away. “We have managed to recover three bodies under the trees but others have not been found yet,” she said.
Poor urban planning and infrastructure make communities like Mukupi’s more vulnerable to extreme rainfall, which is becoming more intense and frequent in Africa due to rising temperatures, according to United Nations climate experts.
“When rain falls, the main waterway gets clogged sometimes because of the waste, so it gets flooded and it affects the houses,” Bukavu official Emmanuel Majivuno Kalimba told Reuters at the scene, as residents worked to salvage belongings from their damaged homes.
The devastation brought by the heavy floods in Bukavu follows the deaths of at least 22 people in Kasai-Central province when a landslide swallowed houses, churches and roads, killing entire families and leaving people homeless.
