Landslide in the Philippines

MANILA - A huge landslide on the Island of Leyte on the west point of the Islands of the Philippines has caused at least two hundred deaths and 1,500 people are missing, according to the Red Cross.

The local authorities have only officially announced a total of 23 dead. Some 500 houses and a primary school have been buried under the the mud which, after two weeks of continious rain, came from a mountainous escarpment..

"It was as if the mountain had exploded and that it had completely collapsed.", said Dario Libatan, one of the survivors, to Radio Manille DZMM. "There is not a house left standing".

Rosette Lerias, the governor of Leyte Province, said to the Radio DZBB that it was feared that 500 houses and a primary school full of pupils were buried in Ginsahugan, a village which has approximately 2.500 inhabitant. "The ground was soaked with water because of the rains", said Lerias. At the last count, 53 people have been rescued. Senator Richard Gordon, the Dircector of the Red Cross in the Philippines, said that it seems as if the whole village had been buried by the Island of Leyte, causing 200 deaths and 1.500 missing. "This is our estimate as there has been no official body count", he said in a telephone call to the Associated Press from Geneva. "We are organising the rescue operation. This region is rather unfortunately famous for landslides.".

Two other villages have also been affected and about 3000 people have been evcauted to a state building. According to the Ambassador of the United States, the American Army are sending a ship which will bring aid. In November 1991, almost 6000 people were found dead on the Island of Leyte as a result of floods and landslides caused by a tropical storm.