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Friday, February 24, 2006
Roof found isn't from elementary school missing in landslide: Official (5:20 p.m.)
GUINSAUGON -- The Philippine army said Friday that a roof spotted in a mudslide-stricken village was not from a school that was buried with more than 240 students and teachers, dealing another blow to the chances of finding survivors.
"According to our rescuers, it is not the school roof. It is the roofing of a house," Maj. Gen. Bonifacio Ramos said at the site.
Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Philippine Red Cross, said chances were slim of finding any survivors a week after a mountainside collapsed and covered the village of Guinsaugon, adding: "A decision will have to made to make this consecrated ground."
Intermittent rains again disrupted the rescue efforts, forcing rescuers to abandon some of the sites considered too dangerous because of a risk of further landslides.
Ramos, overall commander of the operation, said the government and geologists would make a decision on when to shift from rescue to retrieval operations.
Three more bodies were retrieved Friday, bringing the official death toll to 132. Also found in the mud were pictures, a wallet with an ID, pillows and blankets. No one has been found alive since the first hours after the disaster.
"Technically, I don't see any possibility of retrieving survivors," said Puji Pujiono, leader of the UN disaster assessment and coordination team at the site.
"This kind of disaster leaves a very small chance of survival, that's a reality. If there is one or two, it would be a miracle," he said. "Taking care of those still alive is equally or more important than prolonging the (search) operation."
Both Pujiono and Gordon urged the government to make a list of needs for the hundreds of evacuees so other countries could coordinate donations, and warned of the threat of disease and overcrowding for those who lost their homes. Many are staying in schools in the nearby town of St. Bernard.
"We must take advantage of US personnel and equipment so that we can do all these things while they are here," said Gordon.
Hundreds of US Marines and other rescue workers have been digging with picks and shovels in the mud covering the farming village of Guinsaugon. Most rescuers focused on a cluster of crumpled tin roofs and part of a big house in the mud, removing rocks by hand.
"Today's operation is the biggest so far," said US Navy Cmdr. Manuel Biadog, a Filipino-American chaplain assigned to Marines based in Okinawa, Japan. "Right now, it's old-fashioned digging because the ground is so soft."
He said better weather after days of heavy rain had allowed workers to step up their efforts, but said they were not using a earthmover and other heavy equipment because the ground was too unstable and more landslides were feared.
"We are concerned that an area at the top of the mountain is receding," Biadog said.
Later Friday, helicopters pulled out about a half of the 500 diggers.
"We all don't have much hope, but we are not giving up yet," said Benjamin Hong, head of a Taiwanese group of rescue workers.
The school building - the focus of the operation - hasn't been found. Rescuers spotted the remains of a 3-story house that, according to witnesses, stood near the school. It moved about 500 meters (yards) from the original site, and only the top of the second floor could be seen, but it was destroyed.
Much of the mud throughout the 40-hectare (100-acre) landslide zone remains unsettled, especially after the continued rains. The dangers were underscored Thursday when a group of rescue workers had to be rescued after getting stuck while trying to extricate a body.(AP) |
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