Search teams looking for the estimated 1 800 people missing after a landslide buried a village on Leyte island in the Philippines on Friday found only bodies, as rescuers warned there is now no hope of finding any more survivors from the mudslip that buried three farming villages, including Guinsaugon.
An entire mountainside collapsed on to the poor farming community, covering an area of nine square kilometres with mud and boulders.
By Saturday night, 36 hours after Guinsaugon was obliterated by a 10m wall of mud, trees and sludge, 54 bodies had been recovered.
The population was officially 1 857 and only 57 survivors had been found on Friday. Eleven nearby villages thought to be at risk of landslides were evacuated as a precaution, and local authorities said the residents will probably not be allowed to return for several days as further heavy rain is forecast.
Local officials say the total number of people missing could be between 2 000 and 3 000.
The provincial Governor, Rosette Lerias, said the search will continue on Sunday, particularly in the area where the primary school was, in a bid to find the estimated 206 children and 40 adults who were in the complex at the time of the disaster.
”There are reports that people in the school sent text messages after the disaster, so they survived for at least a little while,” she said. ”We have no confirmation, but I hope it’s true. We want to believe in anything that will give us hope.”
Edwin Pamonag, a Red Cross rescue worker, said one of the messages received on Friday reportedly said: ”We’re still in one room — and we’re alive,” and another said: ”We are alive. Dig us out.”
”I called the number of one of the teachers who had reportedly sent a message, but there was no answer,” he said. ”A recording just said the phone was out of coverage area.”
The mud was too soft to use the two earth movers that were brought in, so the machinery was used to transport the corpses across a stream to the nearest town, Saint Bernard.
All the rescue teams, which comprise military, government officials, Red Cross workers and locals, stopped work at 6.30pm local time because it was considered too dangerous to continue.
Pamonag said he is not holding out much hope of finding any more survivors. ”By tomorrow [Sunday] morning, it will be 48 hours since the landslide and I would think the survival rate is zero.”
United States marines arrived on Sunday in the stricken village and a Malaysian team was due later in the day. Military sniffer dogs were expected in the area later on Sunday.
US Captain Burrell Parmer said engineers were looking for a suitable landing site near the disaster area. ”We are equipped for basic humanitarian assistance but I am not certain whether we have the right equipment for digging,” he said. ”Our top priority now is search and rescue.”
The World Health Organisation offered medical supplies and humanitarian aid. ”This is a terrible tragedy and we will do all that we can to help,” said spokesperson Peter Cordingley.
Experts say the area’s geology, heavy rainfall and deforestation may all have contributed to the tragedy.
Leyte, which sits on a geological fault, features narrow, flat coastal areas and a mountainous interior and is prone to landslides.
About 500mm of rain had fallen in the area since February 1, nearly five times the average for the month. — Guardian Unlimited Â