LEGASPI (Philippines), Dec 2: Rescuers arrived in this devastated Philippines city on Saturday as officials warned there would be few survivors from giant mudslides which swept away entire villages, killing hundreds.
Military and civilian emergency workers delayed by typhoon Durian, which triggered the mudflows on Thursday, flew in at first light with the toll already at 469 dead or missing.
As they made their way to the Mayon volcano, where rivers of mud and ash metres high obliterated whole communities, officials were pessimistic about finding people alive, and appealed for body bags and doctors.
Along the road from Legaspi to the town of Guinobatan a quiet procession of poor men, women and children clutching whatever they could salvage walked towards Legaspi hoping to find shelter and food.
Cedric Daep, head of the provincial Disaster Control Council, said it would be a case of digging bodies from the mud rather than rescuing survivors.
“There are possibly dozens or hundreds (of bodies) to be recovered,” Daep said.
He said floodwaters had risen so rapidly many people simply did not have time to get out of their houses.
Rea Buen, aged 22 and pregnant, was trying to retrieve water containers from what used to be her home.
“This used to be such a happy place, but not any more. When the mud came down we got out, but as I turned back I saw relatives and friends being washed away by the mud ... all I could do was watch. We could do nothing,” she said.
Rescuers were greeted by appalling scenes as they arrived on a Philippine Airforce C-130 transport aircraft at dawn.
Many buildings in Legaspi, capital of the eastern Bicol region, were damaged or demolished, while villages on the slopes of the scenic Mayon volcano had been reduced to just a few sticks protruding from the mud.
Residents using shovels and makeshift equipment were digging out bodies and covering them with plastic. Grieving relatives wept as they tried to identify mangled corpses.
The mudslides triggered by rain from Durian reached as high as rooftops when they poured down from the Mount Mayon volcano, around 350kms southeast of Manila.
Separate figures from the Red Cross put the number of confirmed dead at 145, but director Gwen Tang said the organisation was looking at a higher toll.
“More than 500 villages have been affected and two have been wiped off the face of the earth,” she said.
“We just don't know how many people have died.” In the town of Guinobatan 57 unidentified people were buried in a mass grave.—AFP
