Meselesh Gosaye, a mother of six, was in her hilltop home in Gofa district in southern Ethiopia looking after her children when she heard the landslide that left many people trapped in the mud.
“There were people screaming and we ran down the hill,” she said, struggling to hold back tears as she recalled what happened on Sunday.
In the town of Kencho Satcha Gozdi, where Mrs. Meselech lives, a number of small villages are scattered across the hilly landscape. These villages are at risk of flooding and landslides.
The string of settlements is characterized by mud-walled, tin-roofed houses, some of which are at or near the top of the lush slopes. Other villages—including the one buried by the landslide—are at the foot of the hills.
Sunday’s disaster was preceded by heavy rainfall, making the narrow and slippery sidewalks in the area dangerous.
But Mrs. Meselech, her husband and some of her children did not hesitate and ran to the scene of the accident.
“When we got there we saw the Earth [had swallowed] “The houses,” she told the BBC.
They joined a group of villagers who had also come when they heard the news. They instinctively began to dig through the earth and mud, many of them with only their hands, hoping to save those buried beneath.
In the hours that followed, many more arrived. But their success was limited: a few people were pulled from the water alive, many more remained trapped.
“It was a sad day,” said Mrs. Meselech.
As much more manpower and effort was needed, local authorities began to mobilize assistance.
The next day, during an emergency meeting, they told all able-bodied adults and older children to grab all the farming tools—such as shovels, axes, and hoes—and get to work together.
The location was not accessible to vehicles with heavier lifting equipment.
Mrs. Meselech’s husband and her two eldest sons, ages 15 and 12, immediately joined the search and rescue efforts. Meanwhile, she returned home from the meeting to breastfeed her toddler and cook for her other children.
Then she went back downhill to offer help. But what awaited her was a different – and more tragic – scene. There had been a second landslide that had buried most of those involved in the rescue mission.
Unable to control her emotions, she rushed toward the land that had swallowed her husband and children. But someone stopped her, reminding her that it was still dangerous.
“They said I still had children at home and that I had to survive for them.”
In the hours that followed, news of the double tragedy was heard in surrounding villages and towns.
Hundreds of people came to help.
Families rushed to find their missing loved ones, and some—including the head of the municipality who mobilized residents after the first landslide—were quickly declared dead.
At one point, Ms. Meselech “saw excavators pulling out someone’s body. I thought it was my husband. I started helping,” she said.
“I thought he was still alive. But he was dead. He was still holding the axe he had when he went to help [those buried in the first landslide].
“His face was unrecognizable. I checked his breast pocket because I knew that was where he kept his ID card. It was him. I screamed.”
When her husband’s body – along with other recovered bodies – was moved to a safe place, Mrs. Meselech could not go with them because her two sons were still missing.
“I was torn between going and staying behind.”
The body of her 12-year-old son was later found, but her 15-year-old had not been found when she spoke to the BBC on Thursday.
“How I [suffered] giving birth to my children, raising them, educating them. It’s so sad for me,” she said as grief overwhelmed her.
But Mrs. Meselech is not alone in her grief. Death has knocked on the doors of many families here.
257 people have been confirmed dead in the two landslides, with UN estimates that the number could rise to 500 as more mud is dug up in the coming days.
Serawit Yohannes, whose father and half-brother are still missing, told the BBC that because most people are missing loved ones or confirmed dead, “even relatives are not helping us to dig” as they themselves have “two or three relatives to look for”.
According to the UN, 15,000 people need to be relocated from these hills to prevent future disasters, which will take a lot of effort and money.
But for Mrs. Meshelech, the story will not end until her son is found.
It will take a long time before the community begins to recover.
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