Mbankolo landside: Shouldn’t Biya declare day of mourning, official burial for victims?.

In the wake of moves to assuage the plight of survivors and evacuate the incident site, how to best honour those who perished has remained a concern. 

Some say they are even more touched, especially given that a good number of kids are among the at least 30 compatriots who perished in the cataclysm.

With official statistics pegging the death rate at 28, three missing, 57 families affected and over 20 injured, there have been fresh calls for action at the highest level of the State to honour those who died. 

For many, the Head of State, Paul Biya, who has since the incident ordered several government actions among them the provision of basic services to victims, needs to go a step further.

That additional step, many say, befitting of a country that values the lives of her citizens, should be in the form of a day of national mourning and an official funeral for those who perished in the Mbankolo landslide.

Observers say while not just every natural disaster can be avoided, there are actions within the reach of human power and those in authority to do something compassionate in such circumstances.

A National Day of Mourning and an official funeral, others are saying, will permit the soul of the nation to participate in the process of committing the deceased to rest in dignity.

There are also arguments that having President Paul Biya declaring such, will mobilise the entire nation to show compassion and respect for the souls of the deceased compatriots.

For one thing, individual condolence messages and visits to the incident site in Mbankolo, others concur, should be capped with an opportunity for the country to find purpose in its continuous common living, despite the tragedy. 

Social scientists say decreeing a National Day of Mourning and an official funeral will further permit the entire nation to express its thoughts and feelings for the dead and affected families.

A National Day of Mourning and an official funeral, for some, will also enable those devastated by the mishap to draw strength to put the pieces of their lives together and forge ahead in optimism.

Such presidential actions, others who are pushing for say, may look so simple but in reality, they elevate spirits and awaken the consciousness of belonging in citizens. 

For the several destinies the landslide cut short, the only thing Cameroon can offer the departed as human beings who emerged from her bowels, analysts are saying, must come in the form of getting the nation to mourn in unison.

Bulldozers assisting locals in search efforts at Mbankolo landslide site

The example from Gouache landslide 

The landslide of the night of October 28 breaking 29, 2019, in Gouache, Bafoussam III Subdivision, Mifi Division of the West Region, that claimed 42 lives, mobilised the entire nation in sympathy.

The Head of State later declared November 9, 2019, a Day of National Mourning. In this light, the Prime Minister, Head of Government, Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, was dispatched to Bafoussam to pay tributes to the fallen compatriots.

Despair from Douala, hope from Bafoussam

While the National Day of Mourning, declared for victims of the Bafoussam landslide victims has left many hopeful that the Head of State could do same for those who died in the Mbankolo catastrophe, there are fears elsewhere.

Some have projected the storey-building collapse in Douala in July this year, that killed 40 persons as a possibility that Biya may not declare a day of mourning and an official funeral for victims of the Mbankomo landslide. There was no day of national mourning in honour of those who perished in the crashed storey building tragedy.

Though the discretion is Biya’s, others say they are appealing to his conscience for purposes of morality and nationhood to get the nation to honour victims of the Mbankolo landslide.