FALLING FREETOWN: Sierra Leone mudslide survivors live in fear of fresh disaster

Kadiatu Koroma only narrowly escaped the mudslide that engulfed her home in Sierra Leone's ramshackle capital last August, killing an estimated 1,000 people in one of the worst flooding-related disasters to hit Africa in living memory.
Koroma had already left for work when tons of mud and rocks crashed down onto her poor community in the shadow of Freetown's Mount Sugar Loaf, killing her sister and her newborn baby.
Like many in the poor West African nation, she had no choice but to live in a place where experts had long warned that deforestation and rampant construction could bring disaster - and where many fear it could happen again as heavy rains become more severe due to climate change.
"Who would live in an area that is disaster prone if they knew and valued their life?" she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a camp for homeless victims of the disaster.
"We had no idea, we have no choice."
Click below to read the full story:
news.trust.org/item/2018051000...
Subscribe: www.bit.ly/3L0j2Ro
Watch more videos: www.bit.ly/3FPmblU
Visit our site: www.context.news/
-
We make short documentaries, explainers and original series for people who care about the world’s biggest challenges. Context is anchored around three of the most significant and interdependent issues of our time: climate change, the impact of technology on society and inclusive economies. We contextualize how critical issues and events affect ordinary people, society and the environment.
Context is a media platform brought to you by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the corporate foundation of Thomson Reuters, the global news and information services company. Through journalism, media development, free legal assistance, and convening initiatives, we combine our unique services to drive systemic change.

[@JobomaxHomes]

THANK YOU for making this film. Sometimes our clients ask us to pave over their entire courtyard. We won't ever do this, because it is the wrong way to manage rainfall runoff and creates problems for the entire neighborhood. Your video explains the core problem behind last year's mudslide disaster: when unenforced housing regulations and haphazard development combine with climate change, trouble will find you. We are expanding to new countries this year, and we look carefully at how well housing policy is enforced, and how well housing sector investments are supported by the government, as we evaluate the next best market for our growing business. We hope to be a part of the solution to the housing deficit in West Africa - not another part of the problem.

[@perla5465]

I’m so sorry… I hope everything is ok now.. I love Sierra Leone and Freetown

[@alliemujalloh5021]

Tears on my face as I watch this.. who is responsible ???

[@stonerhistory8742]

All of us

[@itzmissqueen3136]

God bless our land

[@leoneabah1628]

Ooooo God bless the mother's land😢😢😢😢😢

[@Ambassador8178studio]

It was too sad to hear a distaste problem in our country Sierra Leone some of the the are Survive of the disaster

[@josephinewileswarner6549]

So sad to watch this video. Government officials do not realize the seriousness of the situation. They have not done their jobs by properly enforcing the law. So many poor souls lost their lives due to poor management. I hope they are working on mitigating this high risk to avoid landslides from happening again.

[@sulaimanlobba9825]

Housing problem

[@misssweetarmani4838]

😭😭😭😭😭 Allah bless mama salone 🇸🇱🇸🇱🇸🇱🤲🏼🤲🏼

[@perla5465]

❤ 🇸🇱

[@abdulaisillah8080]

ACTION

[@aminatamkargbo1954]

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[@kadiatubangura5481]

You guys go back to up line please and make farming up line

[@stonerhistory8742]

We can thank the influence of the powers that be

[@nyalimamose8324]

Rpjf

[@brownosas7918]

these guys talk like naija