A school on the edge of a ravine, collapsed houses, a gutted street ... Kinshasa residents have been observing since 2018 the destructive progress of erosion which is eating away at their district in the south of the city.
“We've all lost a lot.
It hurts and it handicaps us.
This road was our source of supply to earn our living, ”describes, in distress, a resident turning her back to the 15-meter-deep chasm.
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The erosion which causes this enormous furrow separating the district in two is explained by the torrential rains which affect the region, added to the anarchic expansion of town planning in this city with 12 million inhabitants.
“We had organized peaceful marches to demand the rehabilitation of the road.
We also wrote to the competent authorities (…) because we heard that the money for the rehabilitation of the road has already been released.
But many years have passed when there was nothing being done, ”laments Christel Bulembi, activist against erosion, deputy candidate and resident of the neighborhood.
In the meantime, with the return of the rains, the inhabitants fear the worst.
In 2019, floods and landslides killed around 40 people in Kinshasa.