Limbe landslide Victims in ‘Siberia’ One Year After

• Have not Been Relocated by Gov’t as Promised
• Decry Discrimination in Compensation
• Acknowledge the Site is Risky but Remains the Only Option

BY NDIMUH B. SHANCHO

One odd year has gone by but the people of the Mbonjo neighbourhood in down beach Limbe, still live on that same hill where five of theirs, Ngongang Zephyrin, Mukom Smith, Mbu Williams, Arrey Marreline and Eyong David were killed by a landslide that injured many burying houses, livestock and other valuables. Promised relocation by the Cameroon government has suffered total blackout while financial compensation and material support shortly after the incident was largely biased in nature with many affected victims left out.

38-year-old, Sone Charles Ebutane, who was dug out of the mud, still lives with his family some 3 meters away from where the landslide collapsed a house killing three. The landslide survivor who was on oxygen for about 25 hours and on crutches for several weeks, said he has not received any support from the government. “I came out on that fateful day, July 24, 2019, when I heard my neighbour crying for help and we successfully rescued his wife and a child from mud that already buried two of his children. But the pressure of the mud on the house carried the house away burring my neighbour and myself but my head was outside. A few hours later, I was discovered, dug out and taken to the military hospital at Man’o war bay where I was on Oxygen for 25 hours and later did scanning with my money; nobody paid a franc for my bills. Most of my things were also destroyed by the flood that accompanied the landslide,” Mr. Sone expounded.

He also refused benefiting from the financial and material support that came from the government. “They asked us to send the names of victims. People gave their brothers and sisters’ names but some of us who were victims have not received even a widow’s might. I went to the council hall on crutches but it was a man-know-man business; some were given mattresses and money but I got nothing. When I complained, they promised to call us again but we are still waiting,” he said.

The landslide victim recommended that the government come to the field and have a one-on-one needs assessment, and offer aids directly to victims because middlemen have been discriminatory.

Pointing at his uncompleted apartment at the landslide site, Mr. Sone said “this is all my life since I started working in the army some 12 years ago; that’s what I have planted. You can guess how much I have buried there but the Government Delegate to the Limbe City Council has forbidden any construction work there and they are now asking us to leave. How do I leave? Where do I start?”.

Another victim, 50-year-old Jacob Allend Bisala, who lost part of his house to the landslide, is yet to benefit from government’s largess as well, one year after. “Part of my house collapsed, which I have been able to adjust. The government came but support was instead given to those who were not really affected. I was not supported. I have received some foodstuff like rice salts and others, mostly from musicians, film actors, and NGOs who come to see for themselves what happened here,” he disclosed.

The former football player, who laid the foundation of a 5 room and parlor house, has vowed to continue constructing despite government ban. He said he does not know where else to go and the land and house are all he has.

Voice of Nature News visited the SDO of Fako to get government’s side of the story but he said: “I don’t grant interviews”. Meanwhile, several attempts were made to get the Government Delegate to the Limbe City, including three visits to his office and phone calls to no avail.

Though people still inhabit the Mbonjo landslide site, many live daily in fear especially in the rainy season. In a chat with 30-year-old Sone Marceline, who lives just beside the house landslide collapsed killing three, she confessed that “I have been traumatized since the incident with bitter reminiscence each time I look at this site where my neighbour and two of his children died. Even now if there is heavy rain, I will not sleep. I will just be up the whole night”.

Madam Sone and family live in a two-room, kitchen and parlour house and pay FIFA 40,000 as rent. Ideally, a similar structure in Limbe Town is rented at between FIFA 50,000 and FIFA 70,000. Her belief in destiny is, however, still keeping her and family at the risky Mbanjo site despite the heavy downpour that can induce another landslide. “People die everywhere and at any time. Everybody has his her time to die and will definitely die. I don’t want to place myself in a complicated situation because I want to borrow money and relocate. My priority now is to take care of my children and give them better education. We have plans in the future when there is means,” she quipped.

Voice of Nature News gathered that families whose houses were destroyed have relocated to other towns with the lady whose husband and two children were killed in Limbe Town.

It’s evident that though the government has made efforts to support victims and resident of the Mbonjo landslide, the people still need assistance, with the most important being relocating them to a safer site.