Hundreds feared dead in Philippine mudslide

Hundreds of people were feared dead in the central Philippines after mudslides triggered by heavy rains buried houses and an elementary school packed with children today, officials and witnesses said.

Footage from local television showed wide areas of the remote farming village of Guinsaugon, near Saint Bernard town in Southern Leyte province, covered in reddish mud, with only the tops of coconut trees and a few tin roofs sticking out.

Blocked roads, washed-out bridges, cut communications lines and lack of heavy equipment were hindering rescuers.

"Our estimate is about 2,500 people were buried," said Colonel Raul Farnacio, in charge of the military's relief operations.

He said 16 bodies had been recovered in Guinsaugon, a community of 3,000 to 4,000 at the foot of a mountain where a minor earthquake was reported on Friday morning.

There were unconfirmed reports at least 200 villagers could be dead and about 1,500 missing, said Senator Richard Gordon, who also heads the Philippine Red Cross.

"Help is on the way," President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said on television, adding navy and coast guard ships were rushing to the remote coastal area.

Rosette Lerias, governor of Southern Leyte, said the school was full of children and also women who were celebrating the anniversary of a local women's group.

"I don't see any homes, I don't see any buildings. It's just mud," she told CNN. "Oh God, this is truly tragic."

One survivor feared for her children.

"I felt the earth shake and a strong gust of wind, then I felt mud at my feet," Didita Kamarenta said on radio. "All the children, including my two children, are lost. They might have been buried."

The Philippines is lashed by about 20 typhoons each year, including a series of storms in late 2004 that left about 1,800 people dead or missing in provinces northeast of the capital.

Leyte island was the scene of one of the country's worst disasters in recent years, when more than 5,000 people died in 1991 in floods triggered by a typhoon.

Congressman Roger Mercado said residents had been advised to leave the village after weeks of heavy rain but he laid some of the blame on mining and logging in the area three decades ago.

"They would not evacuate, they did not believe," he said. "This is the effect of the logging before. Every time it rains there are flashfloods."

Earthquake experts said the small tremor on Friday did not appear strong enough to have triggered a landslide on its own.

"There were reports that the landslide occurred much earlier than the earthquake," said Rene Solidum, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

"The area could have really been ready for a landslide because of the rain."

Sixteen people were killed earlier this week when heavy rains and flash floods hit southeastern provinces.

Farmers and government agencies have been warned to prepare for a stormy La Nina weather pattern that might hit the country.

La Nina features unusually cool surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean resulting in storm surges and strong winds. The weather bureau said typhoons, floods and rains since November might be linked to the development of the pattern.

The Philippines grows rice, corn, coconuts, mangoes and other tropical fruit.