PHILIPPINE'S TRADEDY - ANOTHER MUDSLIDE.

'Many die' in Philippine mudslide.

Traumatised survivors have been hauled from the mudHundreds of Filipinos are feared to have died after the side of a mountain collapsed and buried their village. Nineteen people are known to have been killed and 83 have been found alive, but rescue officials say between 1,500 and 2,500 more might be under the mud. A school and hundreds of homes were swamped as a torrent of mud and rocks swept over the site on the island of Leyte, following heavy rains. Rescuers suspended efforts as boulders continued to cascade down the mountain.
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Search efforts have been further hampered by thick mud, blocked roads, collapsed bridges and severed communication lines. I pulled out the body of a... child who must have been as young as my own daughter Dag NavaretteRescue worker.

In pictures: Village destroyed
'The mountain collapsed'
Was logging a factor?

President Gloria Arroyo ordered the coast guard and navy to the affected area, and two US vessels are on the way to the remote coastal village of Guinsaugon. Mrs Arroyo urged her compatriots to "pray for those who perished and were affected by this tragedy". "Everything was buried," survivor Eugene Pilo said. "All the people are gone." 'No signs of life' The landslide followed reports of a minor earthquake in the area on Friday morning.

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Survivors spoke of boulders bigger than a house tumbling into the village amid the torrent. Television images showed only coconut trees and a few tin roofs emerging from the reddish soil. "There are no signs of life... no nothing," provincial Governor Rosette Lerias said. She said the school that was buried had about 250 pupils and teachers. "We have been able to rescue only one child and one adult from the school area," she said. A rescue worker told the BBC News website they had been forced to pause their search because the mountain was still "crumbling" and "rumbling". Dag Navarette said teams had hauled bodies and traumatised survivors from mud, which was waist-deep in parts of the devastated area. "People are in shock," he said. Officials said the mudslide happened after heavy rains dumped about 200cm of rain on the area in the space of 10 days.

PHILIPPINES STORMS
Dec 2004 About 1,800 people killed after a series of storms in north-eastern Philippines
Dec 2003 Up to 200 people die in landslides in Southern Leyte
Nov 1991 Typhoon Thelma strikes Leyte causing floods that drown at least 5,000

Eva Tomol, a board member for the Southern Leyte provincial government, denied that deforestation caused by illegal logging may have contributed to the disaster. Correspondents say the area lies in the path of several typhoons each year, and that coconut trees common locally have shallow roots which leave the soil vulnerable to landslides. Governor Lerias said many residents had left last week, fearing landslides, but had begun to return as rains eased in the past few days.

BBC NEWS REPORT.