Posted at: 6:01 PM Date: 2.20.2006

FORWARDED text message from the dead:
"Maam, we are still under the school.
Please help us, maam.
This is Edilio Coquilla. Please maam. "

OVER A THOUSAND MISSING
Hundreds feared dead in Leyte landslide
By Jhunnex Napallacan, Jani Arnaiz
INQ7.net, GMA7, Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, Inquirer

MAASIN CITY, Southern Leyte -- (8TH UPDATE) A rain-soaked mountainside disintegrated in an unstoppable wall of mud Friday, burying hundreds of houses and an elementary school in the eastern Philippines. Red Cross officials said 200 people were feared dead as 1,500 others have remained missing.
The farming village of Guinsaugon in Saint Bernard town on Leyte island, 670 kilometers (420 miles) southeast of Manila, was virtually wiped out, with only a few jumbles of corrugated steel sheeting left to show that the community of some 2,500 people ever existed.


Two other villages also were affected, and about 3,000 evacuees were at a municipal hall.

Governor Rosette Lerias said that 33 bodies were recovered while 53 villagers were rescued. An official body count by Red Cross volunteers showed that 11 died, 30 were injured and 10 others rescued.

The first footage from the devastated village showed a sea of mud covering what had been lush green valley farmland. The mud was estimated to be at least six meters deep.


Lerias said she feared for the safety of the pupils in Guinsaugon Elementary School because she received reports that the school hit by the landslide. Education officials said 200 students, six teachers and the principal were believed to have been there.


A mild 2.6-magnitude earthquake which struck before the landslide may also have helped set off the wall of mud that crashed down on the village, said Rene Solidum, head of the government vulcanology office.


Mario Apigo of the Office of the Civil Defense in Eastern Visayas said the search and rescue operations were stopped at about 4:30 p.m. after cracks were seen near the area where Mt. Can-abag had collapsed.

He said body parts could be seen protruding from the mud but these could not be immediately removed.

The mud was so deep -- up to 10 meters (30 feet) in some places -- and unstable that rescue workers had difficulty approaching the school.

Provincial board member Eva Tomol said in an Associated Press report that only three houses remained standing in the village.

"We are hoping that only 1,000 out of the estimated 2,500 residents of the village are missing," Tomol said. "That's the rough estimate of the mayor, based on the assumption that it's the mothers and the children who are left behind at home while the fathers work outside."

Lerias said many residents evacuated the area last week due to the threat of landslides or flooding, but had started returning home during increasingly sunny days, with the rains limited to evening downpours.

"It was like the whole village was wiped out," said air force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Restituto Padilla.

Rescue workers dug with shovels for signs of survivors, and put a child on a stretcher, with little more than the girl's eyes showing through a covering of mud.

"Let us all pray for those who perished and were affected by this tragedy," President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said in a statement.

Southern Leyte Representative Roger Mercado said the mud covered coconut trees and damaged the national highway leading to the village.

Palace spokesman Ignacio Bunye said he hoped the private sector would contribute to the relief effort, Agence France-Presse reported.

Last weekend, seven road construction workers died in a landslide after falling into a 46-meter (150-foot) deep ravine in the mountain town of Sogod on Leyte.

With reports from the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse; Joel Francis Guinto, INQ7.net


http://www.igma.tv/article.php?articleid=5553#

i would like to express sincere sympathy to all the families who have parted with their loved ones due to the mudslide in Southern Leyte
i also hope that there will be more people who are alive that could be found

that was it..end of monologue..ciao
joyce

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Magandang araw sa iyo. Nagpapasalamat ako sa iyo,tagalupa-at naparito ka upang ako ay bisitahin. Ano? Hindi ako ang iyong pakay? Ano? Ha? Wrong address? Ano yun? Pero bago ka muna magpaalam nilalang-gusto mo ng tahong?Gusto mo ng tabong?Spaghetti?Patituccini?Bananacue? Nilagang Suso? Tahong chips ahoy? Gusto mo ng tapuuuuy? Borocolli? Peanut brittle? Pinekpekan? Gusto mo ng ahh barako? Blue marlin? Panga? Durian? Sharlinga? Peanut kisses? Uhh.. Champuy? Lomi? Shawarma? Buko pie? Humus? Hot sauce? Ox brain?Kailangan mo nun.Leche flan? Kalderetang Kambing? Pinatuyong itlog ng kabayo? Silicon implant? Ginataang manok? Ginataang gata? Ginataang niyog? Sarap noh? Ginataang susi.. Ayaw mo? Di wag!


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joyce.probinsiyana.writer.frustrated singer.obssesed with pens and paper. loves koreanovelas and detective/investigative/reality tv series. scared of frogs and falling(not failing).soompier.blogger.bookworm.OPM rocks!!!. ano pa?.hmm

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