Ofure Akhigbe
Sudan has appealed for urgent international aid following a devastating landslide that wiped out the village of Tarasin in Central Darfur’s Marrah Mountains, killing more than 1,000 people in one of the country’s deadliest natural disasters in recent history.
The tragedy occurred on Sunday after days of heavy rainfall triggered the collapse of the mountainside, completely burying the community. According to the Sudan Liberation Movement-Army (SLM-A), which issued an appeal to the United Nations and international humanitarian groups, “initial information indicates the death of all village residents, estimated to be more than 1,000 people. Only one person survived.”
Abdel-Wahid Nour, leader of the SLM-A, described the disaster as “immense and beyond description,” urging urgent assistance to recover bodies and provide relief to affected families.
Sudan’s ruling Sovereign Council expressed its condolences, mourning the “death of hundreds of innocent residents” and announcing that “all possible capabilities” had been mobilized to support emergency efforts in the region.
Footage shared by local media showed an entire settlement reduced to rubble between mountain ranges, as groups of survivors and volunteers searched for bodies with limited equipment.
Luca Renda, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, said he was “deeply saddened” by the incident, noting that initial reports suggested between 300 and 1,000 fatalities. He confirmed that the U.N. and its partners were mobilizing to support the affected communities.
Meanwhile, the Darfur emergency network, which has been coordinating humanitarian efforts amid the country’s ongoing conflict, reported recovering at least nine bodies on Tuesday. Search teams, it added, were struggling to access the disaster site due to heavy rainfall and inadequate resources.
The disaster has added to Sudan’s already dire humanitarian crisis, as the country grapples with civil war, mass displacement, and acute shortages of food and medicine.