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Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Sounds at buried school in Leyte heard by diggers
GUINSAUGON, Southern Leyte -- Hopes of finding survivors were rekindled after rescue workers detected "signs of life" Monday at the site of an elementary school buried by a landslide.
Sounds of scratching and a rhythmic tapping were picked up by seismic sensors and sound-detection gear brought in by US, Taiwanese and Malaysian forces, said South Leyte Governor Rosette Lerias.
Generator-powered lights were set up to allow teams of rescue workers to dig through the night.
Military choppers, ambulance and doctors are also on standby.
It is hard to imagine survivors under the wet muck that is believed to be up to 35 meters (100 feet) deep over the school more than three days after a mountainside collapsed and covered the farming village of Guinsaugon.
Philippine military officials had feared 1,800 people, virtually the entire population of Guinsaugon, died. But Governor Lerias said Monday that 82 people were confirmed dead and 928 were missing. About 400 survivors were listed.
The search has focused on the school because of unconfirmed reports that some of the 250-300 children and teachers may have sent cell phone text messages to relatives soon after the disaster Friday.
With no one pulled alive since a few hours after the disaster, hopes had been dwindling for finding anything but bodies.
Lerias said the prospects improved from a scant "1 percent" chance when rescuers picked up "a faint, rhythmic tapping" at 5 p.m.
Two hours later, "We received news that there were increased positive signs of life," she told a news conference. "To me, that's more than enough reason to smile and be happy. The adrenaline is high as far as people are concerned."
A US military spokesman said late Monday that US Marines digging at the site had found bodies, but no survivors.
"I asked had they received or found any type of survivors, and the answer was no," US Marine Captain Burrell Parmer said, after speaking to the commander of US forces at the disaster site.
The statement discounted an earlier report by Philippine Interior Undersecretary Marius Corpus that US Marines had found 50 survivors. There was no immediate explanation for how the false report had spread.
"There is a lot of rubble, a lot of large boulders," Parmer said. "On some sides near the river, it's very moist, very soft soil, and you can get stuck up to your heels and your waistline if you're not careful."
Still, the Marines were anxious to discover the origin of sounds detected by seismic sensors.
"The farther down we went, the signals grew stronger," US Marine Lieutenant Richard Neikirk said as he pointed to a spot under a big boulder.
A Malaysian team using sound-detection gear picked up noises, too.
"We have a sound," said Sahar Yunos of the Malaysia Disaster and Rescue Team. "Knocking, something like that."
A rescue dog also stopped three times at one spot away from where rescue workers were digging.
There was no visible sign of the school. Rescue workers were digging at two places -- one that was believed to be the original site of the school, close to the mountain that collapsed Friday, the other 200 meters down the hill, where the landslide could have carried it.
About 2,500 to 3,000 US troops, more than half the soldiers assigned to a joint anti-terrorism exercise with Philippine forces, were diverted to help the rescue, US Brigadier General Mastin Robeson announced in Manila.
Dozens of US Marines and Philippine soldiers, along with local miners, were digging in a watery spot around the school's original site, using shovels on the muck and moving it with body bags, while draining the murky fluid with large water bottles.
The search was a painstaking process as the crews went meter by meter.
All that can be seen of the once-vibrant farming village are a few sheets of roofing material and the tops of palm trees.
The US Marines from the five-man Third Intelligence Ground Sensor platoon deployed nine seismic sensors that can detect vibrations underground.
With everyone standing still, one man then used a steel bar to hit on a rock several times and waited for any kind of response underground.
They were followed by the 15-man Malaysian team using sensor gear called Delsar and employing similar techniques.
Five Taiwanese, who brought heat-imaging equipment, arrived to check for signs of life, too.
Rescuers were radioing for water pumps and floodlights to continue working through the night.
Some officials were talking about leaving the village as a massive cemetery, similar to tsunami-ravaged areas elsewhere in Southeast Asia where digging out bodies was simply too difficult and dangerous. With no one left to claim them, unidentified bodies already are being buried in mass graves.
About of 1,500 people from nine other villages have been moved to evacuation centers for fear of further landslides in the mountainous area.
Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz has warned of more potential catastrophes. Rains triggered by the La Nina weather pattern were expected to last until June.
A village in the southeastern province of Davao Oriental was also evacuated Monday after five people were killed in a landslide last Saturday. (AP/AFP/With JECT of Superbalita)
(February 21, 2006 issue)
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