World Vision Sudan says the landslide has compounded the suffering of people in Sudan's Darfur region. Photo: Supplied/World Vision
At least 400 people are still missing over a week after a deadly landslide hit a remote village in Sudan's Darfur region.
Initial reports from the war-torn country indicated as many as 1000 people had died, and there was only one survivor.
World Vision Sudan said community leaders told the agency 372 bodies had already been recovered from the mud in the Marra Mountains.
World Vision Sudan national director Simon Mane said it took his team two days of driving and then hours of trekking with donkeys and camels to reach the affected area of Tarasin.
Damaged infrastructure and the country's civil war were contributing to the delay in getting help to people, Mane said.
"The village is located in a difficult environment but we have to also negotiate access with the militant group that controls the area," he said.
The Marra Mountains often see landslides during rainy season, but the season was becoming more intense and unpredictable due to climate change.
Prolonged droughts had also weakened soil cohesion and left little vegetation to help stabilise the mountain slopes, World Vision said.
Food was the biggest need, followed by clean water and shelter, Mane said.
Some of World Vision's Sudan team has had to ride donkeys or camels to reach the Tarasin villages devastated by a deadly landslide. Photo: Supplied/World Vision
Even though there had been significant rainfall, water treatment infrastructure was damaged, leaving much of it unable to be drunk.
"We estimate the people in need from [the landslide] is between 30,000 and 40,000," Mane said.
Some 13 million people had already been displaced across Sudan during the country's now three year long civil war.
The Sudanese Army had been battling the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since fighting broke out in the capital Khartoum in April 2022.
Darfur had seen some of the worst fighting and was now battling famine and aid cuts.
There has been flooding in Sudan in recent days. The main street of Sudan's capital Khartoum on August 27. Photo: EBRAHIM HAMID / AFP
Mane said Sudan could not be a forgotten crisis.
"Children in Darfur are already facing malnutrition, displacement, and distress. Now, many have lost their homes, their parents, and their futures in a single night," he said.
Half of Sudan's population - some 24 million people were facing food insecurity or famine, and 30 million people needed multi-sector assistance, he said.
The United Nations had called Sudan an "unprecedented humanitarian crisis" and had released reports criticising under reporting of the impact of the war on Sudan's population.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs described the situation in Darfur as a "hellscape," with widespread atrocities, people at risk of famine and the collapse of basic services.
