Keypoints:
- At least 30 people killed in collapse
- Residents say authorities were repeatedly warned
- Landfill had already been marked for closure
RESCUERS operating giant excavators searched through mountains of rubbish and shattered homes in Guinea’s capital on Monday after a landfill collapse killed at least 30 people, amid claims by residents that repeated warnings about the dangerous site had gone unheeded.
The catastrophe in Conakry’s Dar es Salam neighbourhood is becoming more than a story of torrential rain and unstable waste. Authorities had already recognised the danger around the landfill, evacuation operations had been announced and the site was due for closure. The central question is why so many families remained exposed when disaster struck.
Families wiped out overnight
Heavy overnight rain preceded the collapse in the early hours of Sunday, sending tonnes of rubbish crashing onto homes near the landfill.
At least 30 people were killed and 22 injured, according to reporting by AFP and Reuters, while rescue workers continued searching the debris for victims.
Behind the toll are families devastated in a matter of minutes.
Ciré Kallo said she lost all five of her children.
‘My life stopped today, I no longer need life,’ she told AFP.
Another resident, Abdoul Soumah, said his mother, brothers and sister were killed.
Alhassane Camara described waking to strange noises before waste began crashing into his home. One of his younger brothers was killed while another was pulled out alive. His mother, grandmother and sisters escaped.
Residents say warnings went unheard
Grief has been accompanied by anger over whether the disaster could have been prevented.
Abou Hamza, a community activist in Dar es Salam, told AFP that residents had repeatedly raised concerns with authorities about the dangers posed by the landfill.
‘We young people did everything to prevent this. We organised meetings and invited officials, but they didn’t take the matter seriously,’ he said.
Hamza said authorities had promised about a year earlier that the dump would be closed.
His allegations do not by themselves establish official negligence. But they take on greater significance because the government had itself acknowledged the danger.
In the days before the collapse, authorities announced plans to evacuate people living around the landfill and secure the surrounding area because of landslide risks. AP reported that the landfill was scheduled to close on Sunday — the day the disaster occurred.
Second collapse caught rescuers
Residents said the catastrophe unfolded in stages.
Aboubacar Camara recalled hearing a slide and screams during the night before leaving his home with his wife.
He told AFP that a second collapse then occurred, sweeping away young men who had rushed to help victims of the first slide.
‘Everyone who went there to help, they all ended up buried in it,’ he said.
For Maciré Camara, the second collapse proved devastating. Her husband had gone to help neighbours after the initial disaster when another mass of waste came down and buried him.
The accounts underline the danger faced not only by those living beside the landfill but also by residents who rushed towards the wreckage to rescue neighbours.
Dar es Salam had seen disaster before
The warning signs were not confined to recent complaints.
Dar es Salam suffered another deadly landfill collapse in August 2017 when torrential rain caused rubbish to fall onto nearby homes, killing at least eight people.
Nine years later, another tragedy at the same site is raising renewed questions about waste management, settlement planning and the protection of communities living around hazardous areas in Guinea’s densely populated capital.
Similar questions are being asked elsewhere in West Africa as intense rainfall collides with vulnerable urban infrastructure. Deadly flooding in Cote d’Ivoire has exposed growing urban climate risks, while Lagos has turned to flood insurance as Nigeria confronts increasing exposure in vulnerable communities.
Heavy rain may trigger such disasters, but the scale of destruction can also depend on where people are allowed to build, the condition of infrastructure and how quickly governments act on known risks.
Survivors moved to safety
More than 400 displaced people have been evacuated since Sunday evening and housed at a primary school in Conakry’s Dixinn neighbourhood, according to AFP.
Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah visited the disaster area and said authorities were providing medical treatment for the injured and assistance to affected families.
The government has also said families still living around the landfill will be moved to safer areas.
Former prime minister and opposition figure Cellou Dalein Diallo, who lives in exile, called the collapse a tragedy and urged authorities to establish transparently what led to the disaster.
Questions remain after the rescue
The immediate priority remains finding victims, treating the injured and supporting families who have lost relatives, homes and possessions.
But the search operation will eventually give way to more difficult questions.
Why were families still living beside a landfill authorities considered dangerous? Why had earlier attempts to close or secure the site failed? And after a deadly collapse in the same neighbourhood in 2017, why was Dar es Salam still exposed to another catastrophe?
Torrential rain may have triggered Sunday’s collapse. What happened before the rain could prove just as important.
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