Story highlights The landslide killed more than 60 people

The government had been trying to resettle people living in the area

(CNN) The deaths of more than 60 people in a landslide Saturday night at a massive landfill in Ethiopia's capital gave urgency to a festering problem: the fate of the hundreds who live in the makeshift houses on top of the garbage outside Addis Ababa.

The landfill is called Koshe, which means "dust." It's been around for decades, servicing the sprawling and growing capital.

"It's a sad story because the government has been trying to resettle the people residing in the area," Communications Minister Negeri Lencho said. The government had also been building a factory to convert waste products at the landfill into energy, he said.

Fisseha Tekle, the chief researcher for Amnesty International in Ethiopia, said the government claims it has been developing for the last decade, "but it was not able to take residents out of this deplorable situation," he said.

And, he said, there had been no concrete action to remove the people from this area prior to this incident.

Read More