No signs of life

SAINT BERNARD, Southern Leyte — After more than 48 hours of digging into what is left of Barangay Guinsaugon here, everyone speaks in hushed tones, ears to the ground, hoping the slightest sound would signal that life still stirs under tons of mud.

The search has been complicated by heavy rains, on top of the threat of another landslide from an adjacent mountain as well as the possibility that the rescuers themselves could get sucked into the soft, shifting mud.

Isidro Elumba, team leader of an emergency rescue team from Surigao City, said the possibility was remote that any more survivors could be pulled from the sea of mud and boulders that crashed down on Barangay Guinsaugon last Friday.

"We need miracles to find (any more) survivors," he said.

Health department official Cornelio Solis, when asked if anyone could have survived this long, said, "By this time I don’t think so. There is no way they could survive this by now."

"I have been to ground zero, and there is water and mud seeping through," he said.

As rescuers from all over the world arrived in this small farming village, they also said that nobody could have survived 48 hours trapped underneath tons of mud.

An international team of rescuers joined the military and local volunteers in trekking to the site.

The situation remained so dangerous yesterday that even some volunteers were kept out of the area.

The Philippine Air Force and local officials had imposed a no-fly zone over the site on fears that helicopters’ down wash and vibrations could set off a fresh landslide.

Weather forecasts, on the other hand, predicted more rain over the weekend. The area has been drenched by 68 centimeters of rain over the last two weeks.

Elumba stressed the need for heavy equipment to make it easy to find more survivors — or cadavers.

Survivors of the tragedy had a tough time figuring out where their houses used to be since familiar landmarks have been also wiped out by Friday’s landslide.

Sketches of what the village used to look like didn’t help either the locals or the visiting rescuers.

Only 65 bodies have been recovered so far. Estimates of the number of people still buried range from 1,400 to between 2,000 and 3,000, and hopes are fading that any of them are still alive.

An early morning drizzle failed to discourage a swarm of flies, while health workers are busy cleaning the bodies using water fetched from the nearby river.

"The mud is like quicksand. It is very deep and you have to be very careful," Army Maj. Gen. Bonifacio Ramos, who is heading the overall rescue effort, said at a makeshift command post.

"Because of the low pressure area that is causing rains, we can’t move very fast and it’s very difficult to bring in advanced heavy equipment because it may just get sucked into the mud," he said.

Rescue teams, roping themselves together and using only shovels, have been working very slowly because the mud is constantly shifting.

"Careful with your footing, that area is very deep, very deep!" one rescuer shouted at a group of local volunteers, one of whom gets sucked waist deep into the muck.

He is quickly pulled out by his companions but they are told not to proceed any further — the trail they had just taken has vanished.

The military says up to 10 meters of mud — deeper in some places — has buried Barangay Guinsaugon, covering an area of nine square kilometers.

The one-time lush rice paddies and the buildings have been obliterated except for the occasional tin roof and treetops jutting from the mud.

Army rescuers in green fatigues and volunteers in bright orange jumpsuits fight their way across the desolate landscape of brown mire.

The smell of decay hangs in the breeze, while low-lying dark clouds hover above Guinsaugon – roughly translated as the verb "to pull" in Waray dialect.

The only visible signs of the disappeared lives are clothes, broken cups and plates and a brown family photo album floating on the muddy surface.

One of the volunteers tries to reach for it, hoping to get a clue to where its owners are, but he loses his footing.

Ramos says they lack equipment to probe under the muck and appeals for outside help. Special drilling equipment is needed, he says, as well as probes that can detect body heat.

"US lift helicopters may also be needed to move some of the boulders away. This is going to take very long to clear but I am hopeful that there could still be people alive," he said.

However, Ramos said the last clear indication of survivors was a cellular phone message by a person under the rubble to a relative two nights ago.

"We haven’t received anything more (since yesterday)," he said.

The scale of devastation is so complete that US Marines at the site are shocked.

"This is total devastation, it’s just acres and acres of mud and rock and that is all you see," said Lt. Joel Coots.

The hard truth

The regional Office of Civil Defense (OCD) here counted 410 people retrieved from the muck with 21 critically injured.

OCD regional chief Adriano Fuego said 2,318 individuals from 12 nearby villages surrounding Guinsaugon have been evacuated along with 1,342 others to the town proper.

The numbers tallied with figures from the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) based in Manila.

About 1,400 remain missing based on the latest population estimate for Guinsaugon, although some local officials said the number could be much higher.

Local officials claimed that at least 1,400 people and possibly up to 3,000 were buried alive in the mudslide.

The bodies of 50 unidentified victims were buried in a mass grave yesterday for health reasons.

Some lay in crude plywood coffins or black body bags laid out in the town proper after the supply of proper coffins ran out.

A local priest sprinkled holy water on the bodies, some wrapped in bags, others in cheap wooden coffins, then said a prayer.

Volunteers lowered the bodies to men who placed them side by side at the bottom of the mass grave.

The confirmed death toll was 68, but hopes of finding more survivors are fading quickly.

Rescuers roped together for safety hunted in vain for survivors and found only a few bodies in the muck.

"I don’t think we can find anybody alive," Vice Mayor Felix Lim said.

"The mud is just too deep," he said. "That’s the hard truth we have to face."

Rescue efforts were focused on the presumed site of the elementary school and the village hall, but progress was slow.

At the briefing headed by Southern Leyte Gov. Rossette Lerias, the plan is to penetrate the school site where some 206 children and 40 teachers were believed to have been buried under mud.

Lerias said three teams have been sent to search the area where the school building once stood.

Aided by police search dogs, teams were also digging around the village hall, where about 300 people were attending a women’s conference at the time of the disaster.

Hopes ran high as rescue workers frantically dug through tons and tons of mud on reports by some officials and residents who claimed to have received text messages from people trapped underneath.

Reports said buried children and teachers had been sending text messages calling for help.

The messages then stopped, sending rescuers on a frantic mission to race against time digging into the muck despite miserable weather conditions.

Dr. Ted Esguerra, a Coast Guard physician and medical officer of the first Filipino Mt. Everest expedition team, said there are slim chances of finding anymore survivors considering 48 hours have already passed.

Esguerra added that they already pinpointed the exact location of the school but it was buried in 30 feet of muck.

Tragic tales

Farmer Ruben Duhiling still could not believe his son Ariel was among those still buried at the school. He also lost his wife Anne on that fateful day when the passenger jeepney she was riding was also buried by the mudslide.

Duhiling claimed he was tending their farm when the tragedy struck and witnessed how the 700-foot mountain crashed on their village.

Duhiling said he would be happy if somebody could help him find his missing wife and son.

He had been married to Anne for ten years and he could not even remember having a heavy argument with her. "Kada adlaw malipayon bisan pobre (We’re happy everyday even if we are poor)," he said.

For Irene Pajuta, losing her 12-year-old daughter is a hard reality to accept.

Pajuta said she could still remember her daughter’s smile when she left home that fateful day. She, too, is hoping her daughter would be found alive.

British consul John Paragner, on the other hand, also went here yesterday to check out reports of a Briton found among the casualties.

The body of a certain Trevor White was found by rescue teams.

Paragner said he wants to clarify the reports which also said White was in the village that day to propose marriage to a local lass identified as Gloria Patricia, who was not listed as among the missing.

Saint Bernard Mayor Maria Lim said she could only express her gratitude to those who immediately helped her town mates during the crisis.

Lim, her voice cracking at times, told local reporters, that residents have been overwhelmed by the extent of assistance given to them.

The ABS-CBN website said the OCD had confirmed White was among the casualties in the tragedy.

The OCD also released some of the names of the casualties.

Apart from White, the other fatalities identified were Vilma Albero, Elma Bacor, Maya Bolasco, Sharon Bolasco, Cherelyn Cabillo, Marilyn Celmar, Christin Jane Pia, Nikki Gwen Dayandayan, Loloy Celmar, Angelita Espinosa, Carlos Flores, Lilia Garcia, Novern Garcia and Premo Japson.

The other fatalities whose bodies were plucked out and have been identified were John Michael Labrador, Judith Labrador, Felipe Libaton, Vidita Libutan, Suzette Libutan, Gemma Malapit, Emelia Mondano, Lolly Navos, Gloria Navos, Leoni Navos, Julius Omela, Estafanie Omela, Leonora Peligro, Anabele Poño, Rey Raullo and Marvin Zamora.

Aside from those first mentioned, authorities said Guinsaugon barangay chairman Absalon Libaton, municipal social worker Felicidad Ilagan, town nurse Athena Letegio and midwife Susan Sabandal were also buried alive and are presumed dead. - With Miriam Desacada, AP, AFP