Kabawa still waiting for resettlement 29 years after catastrophic El Nio, even as another deluge looms

Heavy rainfall effects in Kenya.[File, Standard]

Dark clouds on the horizon signal not just a deluge in Kabawa village, Elgeyo Marakwet County, but another potentially catastrophic run-off.

For months now, fear has gripped the hilly village where a landslide killed 10 people during the 1997 El Niño rains.

When the Meteorological Department predicted another El Niño rain event starting in October this year, Kabawa, located in Keiyo South, went into panic mode.

Today, soils on the sloping village located in the Kerio escarpment are looser than they were 29 years ago, when the 4 am disaster claimed the lives of 10 people and swept away several livestock down to the Kerio Valley while burying tonnes of food.

More than 78 families who were moved to a section of Kipkabus Forest after the village was declared unfit for human settlement and activities have since returned to settle and grow food, as the temporary resettlement area became congested due to the growing population.

There was a government promise to resettle them permanently. Still, the families ended up living in the forestland until their stay led to the emergence of a new market named El Nino Camp Trading Centre, after it hosted survivors of the weather phenomenon.

According to Kabawa village manager Abraham Kiprop, nearly 60 families have returned to the landslide-prone slopes after El Nino Centre became uninhabitable due to population growth.

Lorna Mutai is among locals precariously living on the slopes of Kabawa despite warnings that one of the heaviest El Niño deluges is set to pound the area in the next few days.

One section of Ms Mutai’s homestead cracked, and the soil shifted, almost destroying her house in the middle of this year after a rainstorm accompanied by a thunderstorm swept through the area.

Ms Mutai says she has nowhere to relocate to. She has been praying that the rains will not trigger a destructive run-off.

But the latest weatherman’s report predicts a potentially disastrous downpour.

“The area where we were moved to many years ago is crowded and has no place for us to settle. I have nowhere to relocate to. As a family, we don’t know our fate. We have been informed that El Niño is coming and that the rains will be heavier this time, but we have no other home in safer grounds,” says Ms Mutai.

By Monday this week, clouds were gathering, signalling heavy rain and rekindling fears of another disaster.

Locals have been appealing to be permanently resettled in a safer area and for the village to be gazetted as a forest, but their pleas have been brushed aside.

Samuel Kemkem, who lives at the Kabawa El Nino Camp Centre, says more locals are returning to the village and neighbouring areas, a precarious environment where rocks are held by loose soils that often tumble down the hills during prolonged downpours.

“People are living in fear as another El Niño looms. In 1997, we were affected by a landslide. We are still seeking government intervention to secure our resettlement. We are safe at the temporary residential area, but those who remained in the area are living in much fear ahead of the expected heavy rains,” says Kemkem.

He recalls how a team of government geologists assessed the landslide-prone areas before declaring them unfit for human settlement 20 years ago. Still, the process of identifying alternative land to resettle locals has stalled despite several letters and political pronouncements.

Sammy Chemomol says he was not ready to return to his former home in Kabawa since he fears for his life.

According to Mr Chemomol, runoffs from the hills in the forest into the valley during the rainy season are often frightening and might become more destructive when El Niño rains fall.

“People are still living in the affected area. They have returned to the landslide-prone areas in the last 10 years because of the congestion,” says Chemomol.

He adds: “Every administration has been promising to resettle the locals. We normally introduce ourselves as people from El Nino Camp because that is where we have stayed for 29 years waiting for resettlement.”

Mary Tuitoek, who was caring for her newborn baby when her house was marooned by debris during the 1997 El Niño rains, says the ongoing fencing of the Kaptagat Forest complex might render her landless and force her back to the fragile village she left after surviving the landslide ordeal.

“We are hoping that the Kenya Forest Service  will consider us because we have lived within the forest all these years. If they fence the forest, we will have no option but to move out. I don’t know where I will move to since I can’t return to my former home,” she explains.

Kabawa Primary School was also relocated to the forest after run-offs and mudslides destroyed sections of its infrastructure.

“I was young at the time, but it rained heavily in 2007. We were told it was not proper to study in school,” Viola Jerono recalls.

Kiprop, the Kabawa village manager, says he has been sharing information about the state of the landslide-prone village since the weatherman predicted El Niño rains.

Several sections of the hilly village have been cultivated for maize production, activities that Kiprop says would make the area more susceptible to mudslides and landslides.

“My duty is to relay information to the authorities, and that is what we have done. The most ideal place to resettle affected locals was areas around Tambul, which are relatively flat and have intact soils,” he says.

The Elgeyo Marakwet Meteorological Department report shows that rain will be experienced starting next week.

More than 40 people were killed by massive mudslides in Chesongoch, Marakwet East, last November. The affected area is located along the Kerio hanging valley.

Elgeyo Marakwet Governor Wisley Rotich said last week that locals living in landslide-prone areas will be forcibly moved to safer grounds during the El Niño rains to avert disasters.