200 dead, 1,500 missing in massive landslide
A massive landslide rumbled down a mountainside on an eastern Philippine island today, burying hundreds of houses and a school packed with primary students. Red Cross officials estimated 200 people were dead and 1,500 others missing.
“It sounded like the mountain exploded, and the whole thing crumbled,” survivor Dario Libatan told Manila radio DZMM. “I could not see any house standing anymore.”
Richard Gordon, head of the Philippine Red Cross, said an entire village appeared to have been buried on Leyte island, killing perhaps 200 people and leaving 1,500 others missing.
“There is no body count yet. It’s our estimate,” he said by telephone from Geneva, Switzerland. ”We’re mobilising rescue operations. This area is infamous for landslides.”
The governor of Southern Leyte province, Rosette Lerias, told radio DZBB that 500 houses in Ginsahugan village in St. Bernard town were feared buried after non-stop rains for two weeks. A primary school was in session when the landslide struck around 9am (1am Irish time).
“The ground has really been soaked because of the rain,” Lerias said. “The trees were sliding down upright with the mud.”
Provincial board member Eva Tomol said only three houses remained standing in the village, which had a population of about 2,500. Six survivors were being treated at a hospital, she said.
“We are hoping that only 1,000 out of the estimated 2,500 residents of the village are missing,” Tomol said. ”That’s the rough estimate of the mayor, based on the assumption that it’s the mothers and the children who are left behind at home while the fathers work outside.”
In November 1991, about 6,000 people were killed on Leyte in floods and landslides triggered by a tropical storm.
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