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Thursday, February 23, 2006
Rain washes out rescue work again
GUINSAUGON, Southern Leyte -- It was another day of frustration with no sign of survivors as rescue workers desperately searched Wednesday for an elementary school that vanished under 35 meters of mud.
Holes dug in the soft muck kept collapsing. Heavy rain forced troops and volunteers to call off work as darkness fell amid fears of more landslides. Plans by US Marines to use a two-ton drill fell through when no one could find the braces for it.
With the search for survivors into the sixth day, rescue workers kept digging even as hopes for a miracle shrunk. No one has been pulled out alive since the first hours after a mountainside partially collapsed Friday following two weeks of heavy rain and buried the farming village of Guinsaugon.
The official death toll has reached 107, based on the number of bodies recovered, but officials fear it could surpass 1,000 on Leyte island.
Up to 300 children and teachers are thought to have been trapped in the school, where unconfirmed reports said survivors sent relatives cell phone text messages.
But despite an intense search, no one has been able to find the school, uncertain if it was still on its foundation or was swept away by the wall of earth, boulders and trees.
A Taiwanese team found the bodies of three children along with their schoolbooks, said team leader Lu Cheng-Tsung. They were far away from a buried school which could contain 240 children and staff and which rescuers are struggling to pinpoint and unearth.
Lu also said that they have found a window that could be part of the elementary school but this has yet to be confirmed.
Governor Rosette Lerias told a press briefing Wednesday night that rescue teams will continue digging for survivors.
Asked why, she said: "from what we see and what we know and from our equipment we still see a possibility."
A Philippine mining engineer, Melchor Taclobao, said searchers on Tuesday had abandoned the spot where they were initially digging for the school after hitting ground, about 20 meters down.
No structure was found, he said, so they started digging at another spot 100 meters away.
Rescue workers used thick blue rope from the Marines to mark off a large area that they believe to be the perimeter of the property where the school was located. The site was determined using a satellite map, a topographical map and layout of property boundaries.
Philippine soldiers began digging with shovels after daybreak, while Taiwanese emergency teams set up sensors, hoping to detect sounds of survivors below the surface.
High-tech gear detected some underground sounds late Monday, creating a buzz of excitement and adrenaline among troops, miners and volunteers. But when no survivors were found, engineers put it down to the sounds of the mud settling, and there have been no new developments to raise hopes.
With entire families wiped out, at least half of the bodies have been buried in mass graves. But one victim received a full funeral Wednesday.
Friends and family of Antonio Bulagsac carried his simple silver coffin to the St. Bernard cemetery. Despite their poverty, the family pooled money to buy a wreath.
An older relative sang during the brief but emotional ceremony before Bulagsac was laid to rest in an old family plot.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo visited the headquarters of the relief operation on Wednesday, about one kilometer from the village. She was briefed by from the provincial governor, shook hands with US Marines and other rescue workers and met local residents.
"We were absolutely crushed by sorrow over what transpired," she said during a stop in nearby Cebu. "The loss of so many lives of men, women and children is too much to absorb."
Arroyo consoled police officer Larry Binondo, who lost his wife, two children and two housekeepers in the landslide.
She also asked for an aerial geological survey of the entire province in an effort to prevent a future disaster. During a briefing, National Disaster Coordination Council officials told Arroyo that Leyte will experience four more months of heavy rain. (AP/AFP/With JECT of Superbalita)
(February 23, 2006 issue)
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Cebu is definitely Asean summit host