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Hopes fade for Philippine villagers, 1,800 feared dead
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-02-18 22:14
LONG ROAD FOR RELIEF
The Philippines is hit by about 20 typhoons each year, with residents and
environmental groups often blaming illegal logging or mining for making natural
disasters worse.
A series of storms in late 2004 left about 1,800 people dead or presumed dead
northeast of Manila. On Leyte island in 1991, more than 5,000 died in floods
triggered by a typhoon.
The victims of a
mudslide are lined up on the ground in the remote farming village of
Guinsaugon, near Saint Bernard town, in southern Leyte province, central
Philippines February 18, 2006. Hopes faded on Saturday for some 1,800
people in a central Philippine village engulfed by a torrent of mud and
rock when a rain-soaked mountain collapsed on homes and a crowded school.
[Reuters] | President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo gathered all state agencies involved in
disaster operations and said her priorities were to rescue the living, recover
the dead and rebuild the community.
"I call on each Filipino to pray for the victims and the survivors," Arroyo
said in a statement. "It breaks my heart to think of those precious
schoolchildren whose innocence and hope have been so tragically snuffed out."
C-130 transport planes carried supplies to Tacloban's airport, leaving
military trucks to make at least a six-hour trip to Guinsaugon with medicine,
rice and clothes from UNICEF and USAID.
The United Nations said it was sending a team to help determine emergency
needs and was making an immediate grant of $50,000 as part of the international
response.
The International Federation of the Red Cross said it feared the death toll
would be high. It was sending trauma kits, other relief goods and about $150,000
in initial aid.
The United States sent two naval vessels with 17 helicopters and nearly 1,000
soldiers, already in the Philippines for annual military exercises, to the
coastal area.
Australia offered A$1 million ($740,000) to help evacuate survivors, set up
shelters and provide emergency items.
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