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Yaoundé: rush towards non-buildable areas


“It may be a caricature, this house on your right, how much longer can it withstand the bad weather.” These words are from the Minister of Territorial Administration. Paul Atanga Nji, accompanied by his counterpart from Housing and Urban Development, points to a house of several levels perched on the side of a hill not far from the scene of the Mbankolo tragedy. It is October 9th.
About twenty meters from the above-mentioned house, another seven-level building shines with its extraordinary architecture and its position. Indeed, this house, whose walls have at most two posts, extends over a length of at least twenty. Another curious thing is that the lintels separating the different levels have a visibly very reduced thickness. Above all this, the house is surrounded by small rocks which are constantly streaming with water, at least during our stay on the land.
Like this house, several homes in this neighborhood essentially made up of steep terrain to which rocks are added are frightening and portend the risk of landslides, if nothing is done. The area is declared non-buildable by the public authorities, however, constructions have developed there that are both solid – made by wealthy individuals in terms of their investments – and precarious, below the hills, for the latter. Seen outside, these houses – solid or fragile – constitute real dangers and only hold up to the whims of nature, especially at this time when weather reports announce heavy rainfall in the city.
The Mbankolo district is not an isolated case in the city of seven hills. Houses on or below hillsides and in swamps are common. Nkolbikok, Tsinga Elobie and Mokolo at a place called Nyam-chacal in the district of Yaoundé II, Eloumden not far from Nkolbisson in the district of Yaoundé VII or after the Mvog-Mbi Chapel in the district of Yaoundé VI, to name but a few These examples are non-buildable areas where housing has developed, with the full knowledge of the public authorities. These risk areas, we learn, are however part of the public domain and cannot be the subject of personal appropriation, unless previously opened up.
If raising public awareness, as indicated by the public authorities, is far from bearing fruit, it is perhaps time to move on to repression if we want to avoid further tragedies.

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