Footage from a video released by the local government shows people standing at the bottom of a landslide that occurred in the Geze district in Ethiopia.Credit...Gofa Zone Government Communication, (via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images)

The Ethiopian parliament has declared three days of national mourning on Friday after death toll from landslides climbed to 257 people as rescue workers continue to dig for bodies of victims in the south of the country.

Three successive landslide incidents buried settlements following heavy rains, killing hundreds and leaving several others unaccounted for, according to the UN humanitarian agency.

The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stated on Thursday that the landslide incidents occurred on 21 and 22 July in Gezei Gofa Woreda of Gofa Zone.

The agency said 125 displaced people are currently sheltering with the host communities, while 12 people who sustained injuries were taken to nearby Sawla Hospital for treatment.

The catastrophic incident is said to have affected more than 15,500 people including over 1,000 children under five and about 5,000 pregnant and nursing mothers.

Local authorities, with the support from the Ethiopian Red Cross Society and community members, are doing search and rescue operations – mainly digging through mounds of mud with their bare hands and spades for lack of other options.

The country’s lawmakers said a three-day period of national mourning would begin on Saturday, according to Associated Press. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said earlier that he was “deeply saddened by this terrible loss.”

OCHA projects the overall death toll to rise to at least 500 people, adding that the Federal Government, in collaboration with regional and zonal authorities is finalizing an evacuation plan.

In a statement, Stéphane Dujarric, the Spokesman for the Secretary-General, said that the UN chief was deeply saddened by the loss of lives and expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and to the people and Government of Ethiopia.

“The United Nations and its partners are working closely with the Government, evaluating the humanitarian situation to determine the extent of the damage and assess the humanitarian needs of the affected population,” the statement noted.

OCHA further reported UN agencies and humanitarian partners have dispatched initial relief supplies for immediate needs.

Ethiopia is highly vulnerable to drought, flooding and other climate disasters.

A landslide in 2016 killed 41 people after torrential rain in Wolaita, in southern Ethiopia, and unusually heavy rainfall in the south and east of the country last November killed dozens of people and displaced hundreds of thousands.

In 2017,at least 113 people died when a mountain of garbage collapsed in a dump in the outskirts of Addis Ababa.