At the foot of the Elgeyo Marakwet escarpment, rows of homes now lie buried beneath mud. When heavy rains pounded the Chesongoch and Moror area last weekend, torrents of earth and debris came crashing down the slopes, sweeping away houses, crops and livestock. At least thirty people have been confirmed dead, many remain missing and over a thousand homes have been destroyed. Survivors say the disaster struck without warning. “We always get warnings after the rains have already begun. By the time information reaches us, it’s too late to move,” said one resident, whose loved one is still missing.
This tragedy is not the first to devastate Elgeyo Marakwet. In November and December 2019, West Pokot, Elgeyo Marakwet and surrounding areas were affected with floods and mudslides due to heavy rains. Lives were lost, property destroyed, and an estimate of over 100 families were displaced from their homes. Experts have long cautioned that the steep escarpment, part of Kenya’s Rift Valley highlands, is one of the country’s most landslide-prone zones.
The Elgeyo Marakwet County Climate Change Action Plan (2023–2027) explicitly warns that the area faces frequent natural hazards such as floods and landslides, aggravated by deforestation and poor land-use practices. But implementation of the plan’s recommendations such as reforestation, slope stabilisation and community-based warning systems has been painfully slow. Environmentalists point to weak political will and limited enforcement.
Although the immediate trigger was heavy rainfall, scientists argue that the deeper cause of this disaster is human activity. Forests that once blanketed the escarpment have been steadily cleared for farming. In some places, maize and beans are planted on slopes so steep that the topsoil washes away with every downpour. Unregulated cultivation and logging have stripped the land of the vegetation that once held it together. "The biggest problem with this issue is deforestation, the problem of landlessness,” Cabinet secretary for interior Kipchumba Murkomen said.
“If you go further, where people own their own land, you will find that the kinds of farming are precipitating these issues. Instead of doing millet and maize, it’s better to do tea crops.”
Amid the grief, local leaders and climate experts are urging Kenya to rethink how it responds to such disasters. They are calling for community-based early-warning systems using mobile alerts and radio broadcasts in local languages, so residents can evacuate in time. They propose large-scale reforestation and terracing projects along the escarpment to restore stability, and the promotion of climate-smart agriculture, such as agroforestry and contour farming, to reduce erosion while sustaining productivity. Others advocate for county-level climate funds to empower communities to implement adaptation projects without waiting for national disbursements.
According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), forest degradation and deforestation has contributed up to 30 percent of climate calamities such as landslides, mudslides and floods in Kenya. These calamities are mainly attributed to soil erosion which is caused by cutting trees and forests due to an increasing human population pressure on the resource base and overreliance on forest land for agricultural production. Forests and trees play a major role in holding soils, storing water from water catchment and controlling its flow downstream. The massive deforestation of forests in West Pokot and Elgeyo Marakwet has largely contributed to the landslides, mudslides and floods currently being experienced.
As rains continue to pound Kenya’s highlands, the urgency for resilience grows. Experts argue that long-term safety depends on empowering local communities through awareness, training, and sustainable land-use practices. County officials have announced plans to relocate households living on unstable slopes and to expand tree-planting programmes. Yet residents fear that once the headlines fade, promises will too.
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