More than 1,500 feared dead in Philippines mudslide

An aerial view of Saint Bernard town after a mudslide in Leyte province. Picture / Reuters

More than 1,500 people were feared dead in the Philippines yesterday after a catastrophic mudslide buried an entire village.

Reports from the scene said the village of Guinsaugon had been completely submerged under mud that was 10 metres deep in places.

When the mudslide struck, the local elementary school was packed with children.

Last night nothing could be seen of it beneath the mud.

More than 500 houses were buried.

Television footage showed just a few pieces of corrugated metal roofing poking through the mud.

Relief efforts had to be called off as fresh mudslides brought huge boulders crashing down from the mountain above. Rescuers worked all day, wading through chest-deep mud and digging with basic shovels.

The official death toll last night was 53. But around 1,860 people lived in Guinsaugon, in the southern part of the island of Leyte, and last night they had found only 36 survivors. Fifteen bodies were recovered from the mud. The rest were missing.

Among them were around 100 visitors who were in the village for a women's group meeting when the mudslide struck.

Rescue workers had difficulty even getting close to the school because the mud was so deep and unstable in the area.

The local governor, Rosette Lerias, broke down as she described the scene on television.

"I don't see any homes. I don't see any buildings. It's just mud," she said.

"Oh God, this is truly tragic."

President Gloria Arroyo told survivors last night: "Help is on the way. You will soon be out of harm's way."

The mudslide came without warning just before 10am local time (3pm NZT) yesterday.

"It sounded like the mountain exploded, and the whole thing crumbled," one survivor, Dario Libatan, told radio DZMM in Manila.

"I could not see any house standing any more."

Another survivor, Didita Kamarenta, told reporters: "I felt the earth shake and a strong gust of wind, then I felt mud at my feet. All the children, including my two children, are lost.

"They might have been buried."

Governoe Lerias called for volunteers to help dig by hand, saying the mud was too unstable to use heavy equipment.

"I have a glimmer of hope, based on the rule of thumb -- within 24 hours you can still find survivors," she said.

"After that, you move on to the recovery phase, but right now it's still rescue mode."

But hopes for finding more survivors were bleak last night.

"We did not find injured people," Ricky Estela, a crewman on a helicopter that flew a politician to the scene, said.

'Most of them are dead and beneath the mud."

A large part of the nearby mountain, Mt Guinsaugon, collapsed on the village.

Experts said the mudslide was probably caused by two weeks of exceptionally heavy rainfall in the area, which left the ground soaked.

There had been a small earthquake in the area yesterday, but seismologists said they did not believe it was strong enough to cause the mudslide on its own.

Some people angrily blamed illegal logging in the area for destabilising it.

The local MP, Roger Mercado, said it was the result of logging and mining 30 years ago, but that local residents had ignored warnings to evacuate.

"They would not evacuate," he said.

"This is the effect of the logging before. Every time it rains there are flash floods."

Many of the village's residents did evacuate the area last week, it emerged, but most had returned home after the rains eased.

"The area could have really been ready for a landslide because of the rain," said Rene Solidum, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

The US said last night a navy vessel, in the area for annual military exercises, was on its way to help.

- INDEPENDENT