Mudslides Smother Philippine Village, Killing 1,800 People

MANILA, Philippines, February 20, 2006 (ENS) - An entire village in the southern part of Leyte Island was buried under two separate landslides Friday as a mountain disintegrated under weeks of steady rain. Some 1,800 people are missing and presumed dead under the soupy mud, including 253 staff and students of the local school.

The farming village of Guinsaugon near the town of St. Bernard in southern Leyte Province was first struck by a landslide about 8 am local time, and then by a second slide at about 10 that same night.

After the second landslide, 11 nearby villages were evacuated as a preventive measure.

The Philippine Geosciences Bureau estimates that the mud is four meters (13 feet) deep and covers an area of approximately three square kilometers (1.16 square miles).

This remote coastal area of southern Leyte is located 670 kilometers (416 miles) southeast of the capital, Manila.

A no fly zone has been declared around Guinsaugon as officials fear that helicopter downwash could trigger still more landslides. This has further complicated access to the site, although the airlift of relief supplies, medicines and equipment from various donors is continuous, said the National Disaster Coordinating Council.

The landslides have blocked tributaries of a major river which could cause flooding in nearby areas. Weather in the area is cloudy, but no rain was reported at the site today and rain is not anticipated in the coming days, contrary to previous weather forecasts, the Council said.

The slides resulted from the effects of deforestation and climate change on unstable ground, warned politicians, environmental and aid groups.

The member of Congress who represents the area blamed illegal logging that happened 10 years ago for the disaster. Roger Mercado told Manila radio station DZBB, "This is the effect of the logging in the past."

Greenpeace Southeast Asia Campaigns Director Von Hernandez, said, “There had been warnings that the combined threats of destructive logging and an increase in extreme weather events caused by climate change would intensify the impacts of disasters like this.

"The combined threats of destructive logging and climate change should be taken seriously by the Philippine government," said Hernandez. "The scale and frequency of similar tragedies in the past should have, long before, already provoked the government into action to address the seemingly perennial problems of floods and landslides at the source."

The International Red Cross, whose personnel have responded to several disasters in this area in recent years, said the hills are forested with coconut trees with shallow roots that can be easily dislodged by heavy rains, causing the land to become unstable.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo confers with Glenn Rabonza, executive director of the National Disaster Coordinating Council, on Sunday at the NDCC headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City. (Photo by Marcelino Pascua courtesy Office of the President)

Pope Benedict XVI was among world leaders who have expressed deep sadness and sympathy for the victims and their families. He said he was praying that the "relief effort will be swift and generous in its response to the disaster, and ask the Lord to grant courage and strength to all involved in the task of caring for those who have lost their homes."

Other leaders of the international community who have expressed condolence and readiness to help the rescue and relief operations were U.S. President George W. Bush, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Chinese President Hu Jintao and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.

In Geneva, the International Red Cross appealed for $1.5 million to buy materials for temporary shelters and health and cooking items.

Philippine National Red Cross Chairman Richard Gordon visited the disaster site Sunday to supervise the relief and rescue operations being conducted by Red Cross teams deployed in the area.

The Red Cross has 70 people now working in the area including an assessment team, health teams, two dog teams, and personnel to provide psycho-social assistance and assist with communications.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council says retrieval and evacuation operations at the landslide-stricken areas continue with the concerted efforts of 440 Philippines Armed Forces personnel and 562 civilian rescuers from various emergency responders at the site. They are assisted by rescue teams from foreign countries.

The U.S. Pacific Command has authorized 5,500 U.S. troops, already in the region as part of a bilateral exercise called Balikatan, to assist in disaster relief and humanitarian assistance.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is providing $100,000 in grant funds to the Philippine National Red Cross for immediate relief needs, the U.S. embassy in the Philippines said Saturday.

President Gloria Arroyo watches members of the Philippine Armed Forces load supplies for the disaster-sticken region. (Photo by Marcelino Pascua courtesy Office of the President)

A Taiwanese rescue team equipped with heat and movement sensing equipment is at the site to assist in search and rescue operations.

The Japanese government has agreed to donate emergency supplies and equipment.

The government of Australia has pledged A$1 million for immediate relief and medical assistance which will be made available to the Philippines Red Cross Society and other relief agencies to assist with the immediate task of evacuating survivors, setting up shelter and trauma counseling as well as meeting the basic needs of food, clothing and emergency items.

Canada is allocating C$300,000 in initial assistance to support recovery and rehabilitation efforts in the affected area.

UNICEF has provided health kits and essential medicine for 10,000 persons. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has provided an emergency grant of $50,000 and the UN Development Programme has mobilized an additional $100,000 for immediate response.

The Philippine Red Cross says this area is often hit by floods and heavy rains. In 2004 a series of typhoons killed 1,750 people and injured another 750 people. A landslide in southern Leyte killed about 6,000 people in 1991.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Philippine Institute of Vulcanology have scientists in the area to assess hazards in an effort to enhance preparedness and early warning for other areas that may be vulnerable to landslides.

In the November 2005 Greenpeace report, "Crisis or Opportunity: Climate Change Impacts and the Philippines," author Dr. Leoncio Amadore determined that the impacts of climate change have been manifested in the Philippines by extreme climate occurrence such as, floods, droughts, forest fires, and an increase in tropical cyclones.

A former director of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration and former Permanent Represantive of the Philippines to the World Meteorological Organization, Dr. Amadore wrote that climate change would aggravate the problems of an already overburdened Filipino people, and warned that countries like the Philippines "must combine both adaptive strategies such as disaster-preparedness programs and, continuous vulnerability assessments" to cope with these threats.