276 Households Relocated From Landslide-Prone Area in Rusizi District
A total of 276 households in Bugarama, Rusizi District in Rwanda's Western Province, have been relocated from a landslide-prone area to safer accommodation, The New Times reported on 4 October 2026. Rusizi District Mayor Phanuel Sindayiheba told the newspaper that all households in the identified risk zone had vacated the area by 1 September, as authorities implemented protective measures for the rainy season.
Rusizi sits on the south-eastern shore of Lake Kivu in mountainous terrain, where heavy rainy-season downpours regularly trigger landslides and flooding that threaten hillside homes and farmland. The relocation forms part of Rwanda's long-running national programme of identifying disaster-prone settlements and moving residents out of danger.
In the same week, Rwanda published details of another resettlement scheme: a $49 million smart green village with modern housing, basic services and livelihood opportunities for families making way for the expansion of Volcanoes National Park. Together, the two announcements made resettlement and disaster prevention prominent themes in local governance this week.
With the rainy season continuing, district authorities said monitoring of high-risk slopes would go on. Livelihood support for the relocated families and decisions on the vacated land will be handled by district government and partner institutions under the procedures used in earlier resettlement projects.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 基伍湖畔山地（资料图）。摄影：Ericnkurunziza，CC BY-SA 4.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons
