200 feared dead in Philippine landslides

Rescuers battled rain, mud and floodwaters today in search of survivors after landslides and huge waves devastated eastern Philippine villages leaving up to 200 people dead.

Melchor Rosales, executive director of the National Disaster Coordination Centre, said the death toll has risen to at least 83 people, including 61 in the hard-hit central province of Southern Leyte, and 123 others were still missing.

Officials feared the final death toll will rise as bad weather, blocked roads and downed power and telephone lines hampered rescue and recovery work.

Leyte Governor Rosette Lerias, who visited the devastated mountainside village of Punta tonight, reported 16 more dead which would place the official count at 99.

“I just came from a very, very depressing site,” said Lerias.

She said Punta was a picture of mayhem, with more than half of its 83 houses either destroyed or buried under huge mounds of earth, debris and coconut trees.

“There was mud all over, you couldn’t see anything but rooftops with the houses submerged in mud. There’s debris, wood, old clothes, kitchen utensils strewn all around … in one spot they dug up the hand of a child,” Lerias said.

Rescuers have so far found 49 bodies in Punta, which had 360 residents, she said.

A village leader was also killed by fallen trees in a nearby village, she said, bringing the number of dead from the village to 50.

Lerias said an 89-year-old man and a 14-year-old girl were dug up alive after being buried late Friday. They appeared to have survived thanks to an air pocket, she said.

But rescue efforts were bogged down by bad weather. Lerias said her boat had to turn back because of huge waves.

She said she held out hope that some survivors might still be found.

“I’m still hoping that some could be found alive. Sometimes there could be some wind pipes that could allow them to breathe. Even saving one or two would be worth all the effort,” she said.

Soldiers, police and civilian volunteers were helping, and military helicopters were waiting for the weather to clear enough for them to fly to hard-hit villages, Rosales said.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said she has asked the US to send in Chinook helicopters – all-weather troops and cargo carriers.

Rescuers described digging up bodies of whole families buried together, including a mother embracing her children.

In Liloan, a mother wept as she cleaned the muddy remains of her son with water from a garden hose amid a throng of onlookers.

In a rural morgue, wooden coffins bearing pieces of paper with the scrawled names of the dead lay side by side, lit by candles on a table.

Six days of pounding rain and wind brought floods and set off landslides and huge waves that battered six provinces near the Pacific Ocean late Friday to early Saturday, officials said.

Some blamed years of illegal logging for the tragedy. Arroyo said most of the affected areas were near overlogged hill-and mountainsides and urged officials to encourage tree plantations that could hold the soil better than ordinary farms on steep slopes near villages.

Arroyo did not go ahead with a plan to travel to Leyte today, about 395 miles southeast of Manila, after officials warned the trip would be very risky, officials said.

“I’m deeply saddened that the tragedy struck them amidst Christmas,” Arroyo said.