Hopes fade as rescuers find no further signs of life

A man is silhouetted while standing near a makeshift grave of a landslide victim in a village in Real town. Picture / Reuters

REAL, Philippines - Philippine rescuers had almost given up hope of finding more survivors on Friday after four were pulled from a building that collapsed 11 days ago during a fierce storm.

"We might not stay for long," said Joel Son, head of a group of miners that has been digging for bodies in the rubble.

"The area has been cleaned and we've excavated a large area. The villagers can do the rest. We're about to leave the area."

Nearly 1,800 people are dead or missing in eastern and northern provinces after a typhoon and three tropical storms in two weeks set off torrents of water, mud, rocks and logs that swept away villages and bridges.

Three million Filipinos have been affected. With disease a major worry, relief efforts are focused on getting food, clean water, medicine and shelter to 650,000 of the most desperate by helicopter, boat and on foot.

In the town of Real, soldiers and miners on Thursday found a child, her grandmother and two teenaged boys alive in the ruins of a building that was used as a chapel by born-again Christians and as a storm shelter by about 120 people.

The discovery of the four survivors, 10 days after they were buried, had given urgency to the rescuers as they resumed digging at dawn on Friday, but they only found five more corpses.

Nearly 100 bodies have been found in the building, including six near the spot where the four survivors had been trapped.

Relatives hovered as rescue teams used jackhammers, steel cutters, a backhoe and their bare hands to dig, checking pieces of clothing for signs of where victims may be lying.

A shot of gin helped some rescuers bear the stench as they poured lime over the areas being excavated. Bodies are being buried near the sea, with the graves marked by crosses carved from hundreds of logs that line the shore.

"This is very painful for all of us. A lot of people I know are now dead," said Danilo Tatad, a town official in Real. "But we have to go on. This is just a test from the Lord."

The four survivors had no serious injuries but were very weak after living on dripping water for 10 days.

"I heard the digging and then I saw the light," Ian Carl Bungat, 14, said on Thursday. "God heard our prayers."

Logging has been blamed for making a natural disaster worse. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has ordered all permits to cut and haul trees to be cancelled but timber companies have scuttled previous attempts in congress to ban logging.

Damage to crops, fishing and infrastructure is estimated at 4.69 billion pesos ($118.03 million). It will take weeks to restore power to the worst-hit areas, clear roads and rebuild bridges.

Various nations have pledged about US$3.75 million in relief and aid agencies are on the scene, but Philippine officials are appealing for more help as government resources run thin.

- REUTERS