Following the report of a massive landslide at Umuchime, Amuzukwu, on the outskirts of Umuahia, Abia State capital, where some buildings caved in earlier this week, the state government has advised residents of the area to relocate immediately.

This, the government says, is to avert possible disaster.

The Commissioner for Environment in the state, Dr. Solomon Ogunji who gave the advice when he visited the area on Thursday to see things for himself, directed the engineers from the Department of Flood & Erosion Control in the Ministry to do an all-round assessment on the incident and report back to his office.

He assured that very soon, the Ministry of Environment would make a categorical and professional statement about what has happened with a view to tackling it.

“For now, I would advise our people and people from this place to relocate, because since it happened when it was not raining, it could happen in the night,” he maintained.

The Commissioner, who described the incident as an unfortunate natural disaster, attributed the landslide that led to the collapse of some buildings there to climate change.

“I thought that this landslide was caused by flow of water or flood, but the description I got from those living in the area gives a different picture.

“They said it happened with some noise, eruption with water and then smoke. It is something that can be described as slide, or likely an earthquake,” he reasoned.

It will be that recalled that residents of the area had early this week, appealed to government at all levels to rescue them from the landslide ravaging their environment which, according to them, has not only submerged their properties, but kept them in perpetual fear. (Independent)