Village gone, 1,800 dead in Philippines landslide

Rescue workers held little hope today of finding more survivors from a devastating Philippines landslide, saying a farming village was swallowed whole by a wall of mud and boulders that killed up to 1,800 people.

Lt. Col. Raul Farnacio, the highest-ranking military officer at the scene of yesterday’s disaster, estimated nearly every man, woman and child in Guinsaugon had died.

Maria Lim, mayor of St. Bernard town that includes Guinsaugon, said the body of a British man, Trevor White, had been recovered far from his house, described as one of the best concrete structures in the village. His Filipino wife was missing.

Only 57 survivors have been found – none so far today – out of a population of 1,857. At least 24 bodies have been pulled from the mud, and a child who originally survived died overnight from head injuries.

“We presume that, more or less, that 1,800 are feared dead,” a grim Farnacio said as search efforts resumed today in a drenching rain and high winds that made the task even more miserable.

The search focused on an elementary school amid unconfirmed reports that relatives of the 250 children and teachers had received mobile phone text messages from survivors there. Farnacio said he dispatched about 60 men to the site.

Soldiers were shuttled to the disaster zone in the shovels of bulldozers that carried them across a shallow stream. With the mud estimated to be 10 meters (30 feet) deep at some points, they were given sketches of the village so they could figure out approximately where the houses used to be.

Farnacio said the troops only were digging where they saw clear evidence of bodies because the soft, unstable mud could shift and claim new victims.

“We can only focus on the surface; we cannot go too deep,” he said.

Army Capt. Edmund Abella called the conditions extremely hazardous.

“A few minutes ago, mounds of earth came down from the mountain again with the rain and rescuers ran away to safety,” Abella said.

Low clouds hung over the area, obscuring the mountain that disintegrated yesterday morning after two weeks of heavy rains, covering the village’s 375 homes and school. Rescue workers trudged slowly through the sludge, stretchers and ambulances waiting for survivors or the bodies of victims.

Guinsaugon, on Leyte island, 670 kilometres southeast of Manila, now looks like a 100-acre patch of newly ploughed land.

Helicopter pilot Leo Dimaala estimated that half the mountain collapsed and continued to shed mud and boulders.

“There are no signs of life, no rooftops, no nothing,” said Southern Leyte province Gov. Rosette Lerias, who asked for people to dig by hand, saying the mud was too soft for heavy equipment. But she worried that the downdraft from helicopters could cause the mud to shift.

In Geneva, the international Red Cross appealed for money to buy temporary shelter materials and other emergency health and cooking items.

Relief planes headed in with food and water, as well as sniffer dogs and search equipment.

Two other villages also were affected, and about 3,000 evacuees were at a municipal hall.

The wide swathe of mud sat amid stretches of rice paddies at the foothills of the now-scarred mountain, where survivors blamed illegal logging for contributing to the disaster.

“Let us all pray for those who perished and were affected by this tragedy,” President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said yesterday.

The White House said at least two US warships – in the country for joint military exercises – had been dispatched and some of the 6,000 forces currently in the Philippines would be sent to help with the rescue.

The US also is sending money requested by the Philippine government to help pay for search and rescue operations, White House spokesman Trent Duffy said. He did not say how much would be sent.

Lerias said downpours dumped 27 inches of rain on the area over the last two weeks. Many residents were evacuated last week due to the threat of landslides or flooding, but had started returning home when the rains let up and days turned sunny.

In 1944, the waters off Leyte island became the scene of the biggest naval battle in history, when US Gen. Douglas MacArthur fulfilled his famed vow “I shall return” and routed Japanese forces occupying the Philippines.

In November 1991, about 6,000 people were killed on Leyte in floods and landslides triggered by a tropical storm. Another 133 people died in floods and mudslides there in December 2003.