Eighty dead, 120 missing in Philippines landslides

LILOAN, Philippines -- Mud and floodwaters swept away villages across the eastern Philippines on Sunday, killing at least 80 people and blocking rescue workers from reaching victims -- including entire families buried alive.

Of those killed, 61 were in the hard-hit central province of Southern Leyte, according to the National Disaster Coordination Center. The death toll seemed likely to rise, as at least 120 people were missing and regional officials reported more bodies than in the government's official count.

Leyte Gov. Rosette Lerias returned from a devastated village in the San Francisco coastal area late Sunday and reported 16 more dead there, which would place the toll at 96.

Some blamed years of illegal logging for the landslides, triggered by six days of pounding rains and winds in six provinces near the Pacific Ocean late Friday to early Saturday.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said most of the affected areas were near overlogged hills and mountains and urged officials to encourage forestation that could hold the soil better on steep slopes near villages.

Bad weather, blocked roads and downed power and telephone lines hampered work to reach survivors. Rescuers described digging up bodies of whole families buried together, including a mother embracing her children.

In one rural, candlelit morgue, wooden coffins bearing pieces of paper with the scrawled names of the dead lay side by side. In other villages, survivors opened coffins to see if they contained missing relatives.

Television footage showed a mud-splattered man desperately trying to dig out a body with a crowbar while a companion tried to pull it from the muck with his hands.

The governor said the mountainside village of Punta, with 360 people, was a scene of mayhem. More than half of its 83 houses were destroyed or buried under mounds of debris and coconut trees.

"There was mud all over. You couldn't see anything but rooftops with the houses submerged in mud. There's debris, wood, old clothes, kitchen utensils strewn all around," Lerias said. "The rescuers were using heavy equipment, and in one spot they dug up the hand of a child."

Lerias said an 89-year-old man and 14-year-old girl were rescued. Both appeared to have survived in an air pocket, she said.

"I'm still hoping that some could be found alive. Even saving one or two would be worth all the effort," the governor said.

Rescuers have found 49 bodies in Punta. Several villagers who sought shelter in a house were killed when it was engulfed by mud flowing down a mountainside toward the ocean, she said.

Lerias said at least three more villages in Leyte province remained blocked from rescuers, and that huge waves forced her boat to turn back as she approached a village in the San Ricardo area.

Soldiers, police and volunteers were helping with rescue and recovery efforts, as military helicopters waited for clearer weather so they could fly to hard-hit villages.

The president canceled a plan to travel Sunday to Leyte, about 395 miles southeast of Manila, after officials warned the trip would be too risky. "I'm deeply saddened that the tragedy struck them amidst Christmas," Arroyo said. The country is predominantly Roman Catholic.

Arroyo spoke by phone with U.S. Ambassador Richard Ricciardone, conveying the government's request for Chinooks, the American military's all-weather troop and cargo carriers.

The country's welfare secretary also appealed for donations of food, clothes and toys and said counselors will be flown in to help survivors cope with the trauma.

About 20 typhoons lash the Philippines each year but Friday's landslides were set off by weeklong rainstorms caused by low-pressure areas moving from the Pacific toward the archipelago

Forecasters say the low-pressure areas were still affecting the country's south with at least one that could potentially turn into a typhoon.

In November 1991, about 6,000 people were killed on Leyte island in floods and landslides triggered by a tropical storm.