By 
ADDIS ABABA – Rescuers, aided by drones, continued a desperate search on Wednesday for possible survivors of devastating landslides in southern Ethiopia that have killed 229 people and affected thousands more.
Humanitarian agencies are scrambling to rush emergency relief to the stricken community, the deadliest such incident ever recorded in Ethiopia, a country highly vulnerable to climate-related disasters.
About 14,000 people need to be urgently evacuated from the area due to the risk of further landslides, according to The New Indian Express.
Local residents have been using shovels and their bare hands to dig through vast mounds of mud in Kencho Shacha Gozdi, a hard-to-access locality in South Ethiopia, hundreds of kilometers from the capital Addis Ababa.
The Gofa Zone Communications Affairs Department confirmed Tuesday that 148 men and 81 women have died in the disaster, which struck the remote and mountainous area.
Senait Solomon, head of communications for the South Ethiopia regional government, said eight people had been pulled from the mud alive and taken to medical facilities for treatment.
The number of people still missing is unknown.
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