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Kasese, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Residents of Karusandara Sub County in Kasese District are embarking on initiatives to mitigate future flooding in the area.
Kasese has been prone to floods which have led to displacement of residents from their homes.
Karusandara Sub County is one of worst flood-hit areas.
Emmanuel Agaba, one of the change agents says the residents have put up disaster management committees manned by volunteers who continue to sensitize residents to protect River Mubuku and its tributaries.
Gideon Sande, a resident of Kibuga village in Karusandara who lost nearly 5 acres of maize in 2013, says that they started planting trees along the banks of River Mubuku as an intervention to mitigate future flooding.
Sande says that individuals in the community have voluntarily taken on a campaign to drum for the end any human activities along the river banks to control silting and erosion.
He says they have constituted community teams that monitor the behaviour of water levels to detect any early warning signs of disaster.
An elder Felix Kabarole Felix, says that they have been sensitizing the community to plant trees and eliminate grazing of animals along the river banks.
The LC III Chairperson Karusandara, Ezra Turyahebwa, says that the local community has been trained in practices that can reduce on flooding including good cultivation practices.
Augustine Kooli, the Kasese District Environment Officer states that the district with different partners and the local residents have managed to construct community gabions, a mini irrigation scheme and put up community early warning system through public address system.
He says communities have voluntarily been cleaning the river to keep it de-congested with waste.
River Mubuku is one of the many that originate from Kasese side of Mt Rwenzori, which usually turns vicious when it bursts its banks affecting lowland sub-counties during the rainy season.
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