On June 25 four villages in Bududa in eastern Uganda, were buried by landslides killing dozens and leaving  hundreds homeless.
This was the third major landslide in three years. In March 2010 over 300 people killed. So far 20 bodies  have been recovered while about 100 people are still unaccounted for – believed to be buried underground. Many were rescued but more than 4,215 people have been displaced.
FACTS:
- 91 households have been displaced with a total number of 735 people
- 112 survivors in the Bulucheke area have been given some supplies (food & non-food)
- 4 other villages are considered in danger of more landslides and are being advised to evacuate. In these villages, there are 421 households with 3368 people.
- The total population generally affected or at risk from the latest events is 4,215 people.
These figures are provided by a combined team of Government of Uganda and the Uganda Red Cross Society!
Using social media, Ugandans shared information about the landslide and updates on the lives lost and rescued as Uganda Red Cross provided first hand information to the country. Ugandans on twitter decided that sharing information about a tragedy on the slopes on Mt. Elgon was not enough as many reports came indicating families left homeless were still waiting for relief.
Ugandans on twitter came up with #TWEEPSHELPBUDUDA to rally support from Ugandans online to support in any way efforts of other agencies to bring food, clothing and other relief items to the affected people in Bududa.
On the evening of June 27, a tweetup – a meeting organized via twitter, was held at Endiro Coffee shop where many transformed their online discussion into offline ideas on how to organize and deliver help as fast as possible.
At the meeting Shs 707,000 was collected in cash and 250,000UGX was in pledges. TweepsHelpBududa also got support of Shs. 500,000 from Uganda Medical Plant Growers Ltd. A Mobile Money account was opened to speed up the collection of the funds. A webpage will be hosted on UgandaSpeaks to provide information on the situation and needs to keep especially Ugandans in diaspora who have shown willingness to help up to date.
The meeting decided on collection points for items like clothes, shoes. The Hub Kampala (Kamwokya) and Sports View Hotel Kireka is one of the collection points.
It was agreed that #TweepsHelpBududa collections would be handed over to Uganda Red Cross, which has been the most visible in these tough times in Bududa.
For matters of accountability the group behind the campaign has setup Google Docs to keep donations and pledges in the open:
