The Koshe garbage dump collapse killed 115 people, exposing dangers faced by informal communities living on aging urban waste sites.
Key Facts
- Deaths
- 115 people
- Date
- 11 March 2017
- Dump age
- 50 years old at time of collapse
- Site name
- Koshe Garbage Dump (also Quoshee or Repi)
- Trigger
- Destabilization from constant human activity
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The Koshe Garbage Dump, a 50-year-old waste site in Addis Ababa, had grown unstable over decades of accumulation and constant human activity. Hundreds of residents lived in informal communities beneath its mounds, drawn by low living costs and the opportunity to collect recyclables for income, further destabilizing the structure.
On the evening of 11 March 2017, a segment of one of Koshe's garbage mounds collapsed onto a residential community below. Both shanty houses and concrete structures were engulfed by the landslide, resulting in 115 confirmed deaths.
The disaster drew attention to the severe risks faced by informal settlers living adjacent to or on urban dump sites in developing cities. It highlighted the lack of regulated land use around waste facilities and the vulnerability of communities who depend on garbage collection for their livelihoods.
Human Cost
Each dot represents approximately 10,000 deaths. Total estimated: 115 (other)