With funeral companies overwhelmed, a flood-hit Philippine city has organised the first mass burial of some of nearly 700 people killed in one of worst calamities to strike the region in decades.

The death toll from storm-triggered flash floods that devastated a wide swathe of the southern Philippines has risen to 521, the Philippine Red Cross said today.

A RAIN-soaked mountainside disintegrated into a torrent of mud in the eastern Philippines yesterday, swallowing hundreds of houses and an elementary school in sludge three stories high.

A rain-soaked mountainside disintegrated in an unstoppable wall of mud today, burying hundreds of houses and a school in the eastern Philippines. Red Cross officials estimated 200 people were dead and 1,500 others missing.

A massive landslide rumbled down a mountainside on an eastern Philippine island today, burying hundreds of houses and a school packed with primary students. Red Cross officials estimated 200 people were dead and 1,500 others missing.

A stampede broke out early today outside a stadium near Manila where thousands had lined up to watch a popular game show, killing at least 88 people and injuring 280 others, officials said.

Philippine officials are seeking international help to rebuild villages devastated by back-to-back storms that left more than 1,100 people either dead or missing and devastated mostly poor northern agricultural regions.

Philippine officials sought international help today to rebuild villages devastated by back-to-back storms that left more than 1,100 people either dead or missing and devastated mostly poor northern agricultural regions.