16 August, 2017
President Ernest Bai Koroma said Sierra Leone was in a condition of sadness and grieving, with numerous survivors still in stun. More than 300 people have died.
A mountainside collapsed on Monday morning in Regent, on the outskirts of the capital Freetown, burying dozens of homes as people slept, in one of Africa's deadliest mudslides in decades. "A river of mud came out of nowhere and swallowed entire communities, just wiped them away", Abdul Nasir, program coordinator of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said in a statement.
At least 3,000 people have been made homeless and more than 1,500 are still missing following the disaster.
Photos from the scene show rescue workers using heavy equipment and even their hands to dig through the mud, searching for survivors.
He said the Nigerian leader told Koroma that the hearts of Nigerians are with the people of Sierra Leone in this tragic period in the history of the country.
Israel's Ambassador to West Africa Paul Hirschson, who has been tasked with coordinating Israeli assistance in Sierra Leone, tweeted that he was "proud to say" the food was the first worldwide aid to arrive in the country, along with an image of thousands of tins of baked beans.
"A lady ran on to the road and started gesticulating wildly", he said.
"I have never seen anything like it", he said. "We are racing against time, more flooding and the risk of disease to help these affected communities survive and cope with their loss".
In a sign of hope, he said, "two bodies were brought out alive from the debris last evening".
Numerous poor areas of Freetown are near sea level and have poor drainage systems, which makes flooding worse during the rainy season.
Israel's foreign ministry said it would provide "assistance immediately and in every way possible" including clean water, medicines and blankets. The capital additionally is tormented by unregulated development of vast private houses in ridge territories.
Makeshift settlements that clung to the hills and shores were swept away or torn apart.
"We were inside. We heard the mudslide approaching".
