Each family that lost a kin in the Chesegon mudslide will be given 50,000 shillings, the state has announced two days after calling off the search operation in Chesegon along the Marakwet-Pokot border.
The last week mudslide that led to the deaths of more than 35 people with 18 being recovered and 20 more still missing by the time the search was stopped has left the residents of Chesegon traumatized and with no option but move to higher grounds according to the government directives.
The 50,000 shillings from the government to each family that lost their kin in the Chesegon mudslide on the West Pokot-Elgeyo Marakwet border is meant to assist in the funeral arrangements according to the Rift Valley Regional Coordinator George Natembeya.
“They will also get more donations to help rebuild their lives after the tragedy,” Natembeya noted adding the government would also cater to the DNA costs that will help identify the bodies that were badly damaged by the mud.
The search also included findings of body parts that will require to undergo DNA to be identified and seen whether any of the parts could be belonging to the 20 bodies that are still missing.
Natembeya noted that the search team had done their very best up to the last minute when the search was called off on Thursday the 23rd of April 2020 leaving 20 bodies yet to be recovered but literally impossible to recover going by the fact that the area was raining so heavily posing a danger to the search team as well.
“This tragedy is something we have never seen before. Huge rocks came from the hills with people totally battering their bodies into pieces. What we got downstream were just body parts. It will not be possible to get any more bodies, maybe just parts. Let us just accept this fact,” Natembeya said consoling with the family.
Natembeya said the government was doing its very best to ensure the people of Chesegon are assisted during this difficult moment and that the government was also on the process of distributing food to the families that were displaced.
Families whose relatives were yet to be recovered took matters into their own hands and embarked on an emotional journey to dig up the mud and look for their kin as the leaders called upon the rescue team to continue and minimize the number of missing bodies.
Kipchumba Murkomen, the Elgeyo-Marakwet Senator cited that the government was negligent to leave the site before the Chesegon people found closure for those yet to be found.
“Twenty-three bodies are still missing in Marakwet landslide tragedy. These people are searching for their loved ones. Regional Coordinator George Natembeya and the military went there, took pictures, and left. Meanwhile thousands of them are without shelter. What is going on in this country?” asked Kipchumba Murkomen.