A mudslide (February 17) buried hundreds of houses and an elementary school the farming village of Guinsaugon in Saint Bernard town on Leyte island in eastern Philippines. Red Cross officials said 152 were confirmed dead and over 900 people still missing and presumed dead. Two other villages also were affected, and about 3,000 evacuees were at a municipal hall.
An estimated six meters of mud covered what had been lush green valley farmland. A mild 2.6-magnitude earthquake which struck before the landslide may also have helped set off the wall of mud that crashed down on the village.
Many residents evacuated the area due to the threat of landslides or flooding, but had started returning home.
The search for survivors in Guinsaugon officially ended a week after the killer mudslide.
Civilian and military authorities decided to abort search and rescue operations and to have Filipino soldiers and volunteers focus on retrieving bodies. Foreign volunteers have pulled out, according to Southern Leyte Gov. Rosette Lerias. Only about 100 Filipino soldiers have remained at the disaster area for retrieval operations and to secure the site which was declared off limits to civilians. A 90-man Indonesian medical contingent will stay for two more weeks to attend to the medical needs of the survivors. US forces–some 500 American Marines dispatched from the RP-US Balikatan military exercises–were still helping with the relocation of around 400 who escaped the landslide and many others who were evacuated from nearby villages.
About 3,314 evacuees, including 648 from Guinsaugon, are housed in five evacuation centers in the town proper.
Local authorities are still looking for relocation sites for the 410 survivors.
As of closure rites” symbolically closing the search and retrieval operations, some 152 bodies had been recovered while 972 remained missing and feared dead. Some 98 youngsters were orphaned by the tragedy. Some 3,314 residents were still at the evacuation centers.
TUCP is conducting a fund drive among its affiliated unions for survivors in the stricken village. As in the past, the funds raised would be turned over to the Red Cross or the Department of Social Welfare & Development (DSWD) to help ensure that the really needy receive help.
TUCP requests contributions from its fellow unions from the ICFTU and the APRO.
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