AP - Sun Dec 18, 9:19 AM ET
Relatives of stampede victim Mallika, 64, grieve near her body in KK Nagar of Madras, India, Sunday, Dec. 18, 2005. Thousands of flood victims waiting in line for relief vouchers stampeded into a government-run distribution center Sunday, killing at least 42 people and injuring another 37. (AP Photo/M. Lakshman)

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/vietnamese/worldnews/story/2005/12/051218_stamped_madras.shtml

Rescuers Search for Landslide Survivors

By HRVOJE HRANJSKI, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 3 minutes ago

GUINSAUGON, Philippines - Rescue workers searched a sea of mud in vain Saturday for survivors of a landslide that killed up to 1,800 people. People fled nearby villages, heeding warnings that the disaster threatened to repeat itself.

Two U.S. warships and 1,000 Marines steamed toward the disaster scene on Leyte island in the eastern Philippines. They were expected to arrive early Sunday.

Eleven villages were evacuated, all in the area of what used to be Guinsaugon. The farming community was wiped out Friday when half a mountain came crashing down after two weeks of torrential rain.

Hopes faded for finding anyone else alive in the 100-acre stretch of mud that was 30 feet deep in places. Only 57 people had been rescued — none so far Saturday — out of a population of 1,857. At least 55 bodies had been found, and a child who originally survived died overnight from head injuries.

Efforts focused on a swamped elementary school, with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo citing unconfirmed reports that some of the 250 students and teachers sent cell phone text messages to relatives saying they had survived.

Sixty soldiers were dispatched to the scene in the morning, but found nothing before they were forced to give up for the night. Sniffer dogs were to be brought in Sunday in a final effort to find life in the school.

Rosette Lerias, governor of Southern Leyte province, said she was hoping for "a miracle" but that no official had been able to confirm any messages had been sent from the mud-covered school.

The search was complicated by heavy downpours, the threat that the adjacent mountain remained unstable and the possibility that troops and firefighters could get sucked down into the soft, shifting mud.

The situation was so dangerous that most would-be volunteers were kept out of the area, and a no-fly zone was established over the site because of fears that helicopters' downwash could set off a fresh landslide. Weather forecasts predicted more rain over the weekend.

Survivors had a tough time figuring out where houses used to be as there were few traces of them. Sketches of what the village used to look like didn't help much.

"It's hard to find the houses now," said Eunerio Bagaipo, a 42-year-old farmer who lost two brothers, almost 20 nieces and nephews and a number of in-laws. "There is nothing now, just earth and mud."

Eleven nearby villages were evacuated, Lerias said. The area, which is prone to landslides and flooding, has been drenched by 27 inches of rain over the last two weeks.

Lt. Col. Raul Farnacio, the highest-ranking military officer at the scene, said troops only were digging where they saw clear evidence of bodies.

"We can only focus on the surface; we cannot go too deep," he said.

Army Capt. Edmund Abella called the conditions extremely hazardous.

"A few minutes ago, mounds of earth came down from the mountain again with the rain and rescuers ran away to safety," Abella said.

Low clouds hung over the area, obscuring the mountain that disintegrated Friday morning, swallowing the village's 375 homes and school.

Rescue workers trudged slowly through the sludge. Governor Lerias asked for people to dig by hand, saying the mud was too soft for heavy equipment.

Survivors blamed illegal logging for contributing to the disaster. But the international Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies blamed a combination of the weather and the type of trees prevalent in the area.

"The remote coastal area of southern Leyte ... is heavily forested with coconut trees," the Red Cross said from Geneva. "They have shallow roots, which can be easily dislodged after heavy rains, causing the land to become unstable."

Helicopter pilot Leo Dimaala estimated that half the mountain collapsed and continued to shed mud and boulders onto the rice paddies at the base.

The Red Cross appealed for $1.5 million to buy temporary shelter materials and other emergency health and cooking items.

Relief planes headed in with food and water, as well as sniffer dogs and search equipment.

The USS Essex and the USS Harper's Ferry, along with 17 helicopters and 1,000 U.S. Marines, were diverted to the scene from planned joint exercises and were expected to arrive at daybreak Sunday.

U.S. Marine Capt. Burrel Parmer, a spokesman for the exercises, said a U.S. humanitarian assistance survey team was assessing the disaster area.

Many residents of the landslide area were evacuated last week due to the threat of landslides or flooding following the heavy rains, but had started returning home when the rains let up and days turned sunny.

In 1944, the waters off Leyte island became the scene of the biggest naval battle in history, when U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur fulfilled his famed vow "I shall return" and routed Japanese forces occupying the Philippines.

In November 1991, about 6,000 people were killed on Leyte in floods and landslides triggered by a tropical storm. Another 133 people died in floods and mudslides there in December 2003.

___

Associated Press correspondent Oliver Teves contributed to this report from Guinsaugon

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060218/ap_on_re_as/philippines_landslide

AP - Sat Feb 18, 6:27 AM ET Rescuers check on the ground where they believe a house stood before the landslide Saturday, Feb. 18, 2006 in Guinsaugon village on Leyte island, southeast of Manila. A rain-soaked mountainside disintegrated in an unstoppable wall of mud Friday, leaving an estimated 1,800 people dead. (AP Photo/Pat Roque)

Flash Floods, Landslides Hit Indonesia

AFP - Thu Jan 5, 7:43 AM ET Soldiers and volunteers clean debris from leveled houses, in Sijeruk village, 370 kilometres (230 miles) east of Jakarta. Rescuers called off the search for up to 200 people buried in a landslide that flattened a village in central Indonesia due to heavy rain as hopes of finding survivors faded.(AFP/Bay Ismoyo)

Thursday, 5 January 2006, 14:26 GMT

Hopes fade after Java landslide



Rescuers are continuing their search for victims of a massive landslide in central Java, Indonesia, but hopes of finding any more survivors are fading.
So far 34 bodies have been found after Wednesday's disaster in Sijeruk but officials fear dozens more dead as around 100 houses were buried.

Another rescue effort is also under way in Jember, in eastern Java.

Landslides and floods in the area earlier this week are now known to have killed at least 77 people.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) in Geneva, 9,500 people have been left homeless in the district, and nearly 7,000 are living in temporary camps.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was planning to visit some of the areas affected by this week's disasters later on Thursday.

Buried alive

Tons of mud and rubble poured down onto the village of Sijeruk just after dawn on Wednesday, sweeping away more than 100 houses.

One man described watching helplessly as dozens of his neighbours were buried alive.

"They were yelling 'Allah Akhbar', and then were slowly buried," 50-year-old Saryono told the Associated Press.


In pictures: Java disasters

Mechanical diggers are being used to clear the debris, but rescuers and volunteers are also digging through piles of mud with their bare hands.

"I'm here to find my nephew. I want to know if he is alive or dead," 30-year-old Atin told the French news agency AFP.

But rescuers are pessimistic that any more survivors will be found buried in the rubble.

"The possibility of finding survivors is almost nil," said a soldier helping the rescue effort.

Two of the 34 bodies found so far were of a mother tightly hugging her child.

The estimated death toll from the disaster still remains uncertain. Sijeruk is home to some 700 people, but many are thought to have fled their homes before the landslide because of the heavy rains.

The head of disaster management for the Indonesian Red Cross said the death toll could prove to be as high as 300.

"There were more than 100 families living at the buried area, and if we say each family has three members, 300 could be buried if all of them were there," Irman Rachman told Reuters news agency.

The BBC's correspondent in Jakarta, Rachel Harvey, says it will be some days yet before the final figure is known.

Role of logging

Floods and landslides are common in Indonesia, especially during the rainy season between November and March.



Environmentalists say that the risk of disaster is increased by intensive logging, which reduces the number of trees that would normally prevent the hillsides from slipping.

But reports say that, in the case of Wednesday's disaster in Sijeruk, logging was not to blame as the landslide happened on a densely forested hill.

Some environmental experts, though, are still blaming logging for the disaster earlier in the week in East Java.

According to Reuter, most of the villagers in the Jember area live on coffee plantations and river banks, where many trees have been felled.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4582988.stm

Hundreds feared dead in mudslide

By Dolly Aglay
52 minutes ago

Philippine mudslides
MANILA (Reuters) - Hundreds of people were feared dead in the central Philippines after mudslides triggered by heavy rains buried houses and an elementary school packed with children on Friday, officials and witnesses said.

Footage from local television showed only coconut trees and a few tin roofs sticking out of the reddish soil after part of a mountainside collapsed on the farming village of Guinsaugon in Southern Leyte province.

"Rescuers are scared because they can still hear the mountain rumbling," said Maria Lim, the mayor of Saint Bernard town, where a minor earthquake was felt on Friday morning.

Rain, chest-deep mud, blocked roads, washed-out bridges and lack of heavy equipment were hindering rescue efforts. Relief flights and digging were suspended for the night.

"The troops pulled out because big boulders are cascading down the mountain," said Colonel Raul Farnacio, in charge of the military's relief operations.

He said 15 bodies had been recovered and 36 survivors found in Guinsaugon, a community of about 1,860 people.

"Help is on the way," President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said on television, adding navy and coast guard ships were rushing to the remote coastal area.

Rosette Lerias, governor of Southern Leyte, said the local school was full of children and also women who were celebrating the anniversary of a local women's group.

"I don't see any homes, I don't see any buildings. It's just mud," she told CNN. "Oh God, this is truly tragic."

One survivor, Didita Kamarenta, feared for her children.

"I felt the earth shake and a strong gust of wind, then I felt mud at my feet," she said. "All the children, including my two children, are lost. They might have been buried."

In Geneva, the International Federation of the Red Cross said it feared the death toll would be high since 90 percent of the area was affected by the landslide.

"A relief plane is flying from the capital of Manila carrying 1,000 body bags, emergency trauma kits to help 1,000 people, rubber boots, ropes, clothing, flashlights and medicine," it said, adding it released about $150,000 in initial assistance.

In New York, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the United Nations was sending a disaster assessment team to the Philippines to help local officials determine emergency needs.

The office was providing a $50,000 emergency grant to help coordinate the international response, it said.

The U.S. embassy said a navy vessel, in the Philippines for annual military exercises, would help with the rescue efforts.

VILLAGERS WERE WARNED

The Philippines is lashed by about 20 typhoons each year, including a series of storms in late 2004 that left about 1,800 people dead or missing in provinces northeast of the capital.

Sixteen people were killed earlier this week when heavy rains and flash floods hit southeastern provinces.

Leyte island was the scene of one of the country's worst disasters in 1991 when more than 5,000 people died in floods triggered by a typhoon.

Congressman Roger Mercado said residents had been advised to leave the village after weeks of heavy rain but he laid some of the blame on mining and logging in the area three decades ago.

"They would not evacuate," he said. "This is the effect of the logging before. Every time it rains there are flashfloods."

Earthquake experts said the small tremor on Friday did not appear strong enough to have triggered a landslide on its own.

"The area could have really been ready for a landslide because of the rain," said Rene Solidum, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

Farmers and government agencies have been told to prepare for a stormy La Nina weather pattern that might hit the country. The weather bureau said typhoons, floods and rains since November might be linked to development of La Nina.

(With reporting by Carmel Crimmins and Rosemarie Francisco)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060217/ts_nm/weather_philippines_landslide_dc

Philippines Landslide Death Toll at 1,800

By HRVOJE HRANJSKI, Associated Press Writer
2 minutes ago

GUINSAUGON, Philippines - Rescue workers held little hope Saturday of finding more survivors from a devastating landslide that killed an estimated 1,800 people, saying this farming village in the eastern Philippines was swallowed whole by a wall of mud and boulders.

The search was focusing on an elementary school amid unconfirmed reports that relatives of the 250 children and teachers had received mobile phone text messages from survivors. Only one girl and a woman had been rescued alive nearby.

Many blamed persistent rains and illegal logging for Friday's disaster.

The logging "stopped around 10 years ago," Roger Mercado, a member of Congress who represents the area, told Manila radio station DZBB. "But this is the effect of the logging in the past."

Soldiers were being shuttled to the disaster zone in the shovels of bulldozers that carried them across a shallow stream. With the mud estimated at 30 feet deep at some points, they were given sketches of the village so they could figure out approximately where the houses once stood.

Lt. Col. Raul Farnacio, the highest-ranking military officer at the scene, estimated the death toll at about 1,800 — nearly every man, woman and child who lived in Guinsaugon, about 400 miles east of the capital, Manila.

"We presume that more or less that 1,800 are feared dead," a grim Farnacio said as search efforts resumed Saturday in a drenching rain and high winds.

Only 57 survivors have been found — none so far Saturday — out of a population of 1,857. At least 24 bodies have been pulled from the mud, and a child who was rescued died overnight from head injuries.

Farnacio said the troops were digging only where they saw clear evidence of bodies because of the danger that the soft, unstable mud could shift and claim new victims.

"We can only focus on the surface," he said. "We cannot go too deep."

Low clouds hung over the area, obscuring the mountain that disintegrated Friday morning after two weeks of heavy rains, covering the village's 375 homes and elementary school. Rescue workers trudged slowly through the sludge, stretchers and ambulances waiting for survivors or the bodies of victims.

Joining them was Dionisio Elmosora, a 42-year-old farmer who was looking for his wife and two sons.

"What's important is for me to find them even if they're dead," said Elmosora, his eyes bloodshot and his face grief-stricken. "I've not eaten since this thing happened."

The landslide left Guinsaugon, which is on the southern part of Leyte island, looking like a giant patch of newly plowed land. Only a few jumbles of corrugated steel sheeting indicate the town ever existed.

"Our village is gone, everything was buried in mud," Eugene Pilo, a survivor who lost his family, told local media on Friday. "All the people are gone."

"It sounded like the mountain exploded, and the whole thing crumbled," Dario Libatan, who lost his wife and three children, told DZMM. "I could not see any house standing anymore."

A helicopter pilot, Leo Dimaala, estimated that half the mountain had collapsed Friday morning.

"We did not find injured people," said Ricky Estela, a crewman on a helicopter that flew a politician to the scene. "Most of them are dead and beneath the mud."

Aerial TV footage showed a wide swath of mud alongside stretches of green rice paddies at the foothills of the scarred mountain.

Pat Vendetti, of the Greenpeace environmental action group, said that that although logging is illegal in the Philippines, a combination of poor governance and corruption has hampered enforcement of the law.

"There were similar landslides at the end of 2004 and the end of 2003, both directly linked to illegal logging on land above villages, and both in the Philippines," said Vendetti.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies blamed a combination of the weather and the type of trees prevalent in the area.

"The remote coastal area of southern Leyte ... is heavily forested with coconut trees," the Red Cross said from Geneva. "They have shallow roots, which can be easily dislodged after heavy rains, causing the land to become unstable."

Southern Leyte province Gov. Rosette Lerias said many residents evacuated the area last week because of the threat of landslides or flooding, but had started returning home during increasingly sunny days.

Even before the landslide, "trees were sliding down upright with the mud," Lerias said.

Army Capt. Edmund Abella said he and about 30 soldiers were wading through waist-deep mud.

"It's very difficult, we're digging by hand, the place is so vast and the mud is so thick," Abella told The Associated Press by cell phone. "When we try to walk, we get stuck in the mud."

He said the troops had just rescued a 43-year-old woman who "was crying and looking for her three nephews, but they were nowhere to be found."

Abella called the conditions extremely hazardous.

"A few minutes ago, mounds of earth came down from the mountain again with the rain and rescuers ran away to safety," Abella said.

Maria Lim, mayor of St. Bernard town that includes Guinsaugon, said the body of a British man, Trevor White, had been recovered far from his house, described as one of the best concrete structures in the village. His Filipino wife was missing.

"Help is on the way," President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said in televised remarks. "It will come from land, sea and air."

The international Red Cross launched an emergency appeal for $1.5 million for relief operations.

The U.S. military dispatched at least two warships and other forces to provide medical assistance and other relief. The United States also is sending money requested by the Philippine government for search and rescue, White House spokesman Trent Duffy said. He did not say how much would be sent.

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

In 1991, about 6,000 people were killed on Leyte in floods and landslides triggered by a tropical storm. Another 133 people died in floods and mudslides there in 2003.

In 1944, the waters off Leyte island became the scene of the biggest naval battle in history, when U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur fulfilled his famed vow "I shall return" and routed Japanese forces occupying the Philippines.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060218/ap_on_re_mi_ea/philippines_landslide

AP - Fri Feb 17, 6:29 AM ET This image taken from television shows rescue workers clean the face and body of an unidentified landslide survivor at the disaster site on Leyte island in the eastern Philippines Friday, Feb. 17, 2006. 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 estimated 200 people were dead and 1,500 others missing. (AP Photo/ABS CBN via APTN)

Searchers Pull More Bodies From Mudslide


By HRVOJE HRANJSKI, Associated Press Writer
34 minutes ago

GUINSAUGON, Philippines - Exhausted rescue teams dug through unstable mud toward a buried elementary school and village hall Sunday in the all but extinguished hope that hundreds of people trapped inside by a massive landslide may still be alive.

With entire families wiped out by the slide that killed nearly all the 1,857 people in the farming village of Guinsaugon, officials began burying victims Sunday, holding a mass burial for 50 unidentified bodies decomposing quickly in the tropical conditions.

No one has been found alive since Friday, when a mountainside collapsed on Guinsaugon after weeks of torrential rain on slopes that villagers said were unstable after heavy illegal logging.

Officials had said 57 survivors were pulled from the mud Friday, but on Sunday lowered the number to 20, without explanation. At least 72 bodies have been recovered — including 14 on Sunday.

Volunteers with two rescue dogs digging around the entombed elementary school found no signs that any of the 250 to 300 children and at least six teachers inside were alive. Mud was 30 feet deep in some areas.

Dozens of U.S. Marines joined them after ships carrying 1,000 Marines were diverted from planned joint exercises to the waters off on Leyte island in eastern Philippines help with the recovery efforts.

The hunt for survivors focused on the school because of unconfirmed reports that some inside had sent text messages to loved ones. Teams also were digging around the site of the village hall, where about 300 people had been attending a women's conference.

"The dogs smelled something. We started to dig, but there was nothing," said Ian Degamo, a rescuer digging with another 14 volunteers and the two dogs from the Red Cross.

Rescue workers shouted and banged on boulders with stones in hopes that survivors would hear. There was only silence.

"All the efforts of our government continue and will not stop while there is hope to find survivors," President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said. "The nation is grateful for the continued prayers and concern, help from our world allies."

Addressing residents' claims that illegal logging contributed to the tragedy, Arroyo said: "Let us link arms to preserve our environment and protect what remains of it for our next generation."

Communist rebels who are active on Leyte warned U.S. troops not to stray into insurgent zones, but assured they would not attack unless provoked. The New People's Army rebels have been waging a Marxist rebellion since the late 1960s.

"The NPAs, if they would not be provoked, would not take steps against them, especially in this time of calamity," said rebel spokesman Gregorio Rosal.

Another landslide killed five people on another island hundreds of miles away, said Maj. Gamal Hayudini of the military's Southern Command. The landslide engulfed two houses in Zamboanga del Sur province's Bayog town, 470 miles south of Manila, he said. A woman was pulled out alive with a broken leg. It was not immediately clear what caused the landslide.

Police dogs, and sunshine, arrived Sunday after days of constant rain that raised fears of more landslides and hampered rescue efforts. Low clouds and thin mist suggested that rain could return.

Rescue workers were warned to step carefully or risk becoming casualties themselves as the uneasy mud settled.

The situation was so delicate that a no-fly zone was established over the area out of concern that blasts of air from the helicopters' rotors could start the mud moving again in Guinsaugon, about 400 miles southeast of the capital, Manila.

Under a light drizzle, a Roman Catholic priest sprinkled holy water on 50 unidentified 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 grave.

Survivors had trouble figuring out where houses once stood in the 100-acre stretch of mud. The area has been drenched by 27 inches of rain over the last two weeks.

A Taiwanese team of 32 rescue workers with heat-sensing equipment arrived to help, while in Geneva, the International Red Cross appealed for $1.5 million to buy temporary shelter materials and other emergency health and cooking items.

Many residents of the landslide area were evacuated last week because of the threat of landslides or flooding following heavy rains, but had started returning home when the days turned sunny.

In November 1991, about 6,000 people were killed on Leyte in floods and landslides triggered by a tropical storm. Another 133 people died in floods and mudslides there in December 2003.

___

Associated Press correspondent Oliver Teves contributed to this report from Guinsaugon.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060219/ap_on_re_as/philippines_landslide

AP - Sun Feb 19, 6:19 AM ET U.S. Marines from the Golf Coy 2nd Battalion 5th Marines attached to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Okinawa, Japan, prepare their gear prior to heading to the site Sunday Feb.19, 2006 where more than a thousand residents are believed buried in a massive landslide (background) Friday at Guinsaugon village, southern Leyte province in central Philippines. A total 68 bodies were recovered so far but officials estimating those who perished in the landlside to be 1,500 including about 200 school children. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

'Signs of Life' Detected in Mudslide

AP - 50 minutes ago
GUINSAUGON, Philippines - High-tech gear detected "signs of life" Monday at the site of an elementary school buried under mud that swept down a hillside soaked by rain in the eastern Philippines, the provincial governor said. Sounds of scratching and a rhythmic tapping were picked up by seismic sensors and sound-detection gear brought in by U.S. and Malaysian forces, said South Leyte Gov. Rosette Lerias

http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/philippines

AP - Mon Feb 20, 4:46 AM ET U.S. Marines from the 3rd Marines Expeditionary Unit and a Filipino rescuers help each other as they pull a rope tied to a boulder during the search for landslide victims Monday, Feb. 20, 2006 in Guinsaugon village, in the island province of Leyte, central Philippines. The U.S. Marines who were diverted from their joint military exercise in Jolo were joined by rescuers from Taiwan and Malaysia. A total 74 bodies were recovered so far but officials estimating those who perished in the landslide to be 1,500 including about 200 school children. (AP Photo/Pat Roque)

Rescuers now hold out little hope of finding any more survivors from a devastating landslide in the Philippines.

Monday, 20 February 2006, 08:09 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4731266.stm

The entire village of Guinsaugon was obliterated.

Monday, 20 February 2006, 08:09 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4731266.stm

Search teams have been told to tread carefully, in case they sink into the mud.

Monday, 20 February 2006, 08:09 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4731266.stm

Anxious villagers can do little but watch and wait, as the recovery operation goes on.

Monday, 20 February 2006, 08:09 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4731266.stm

Tuesday, 3 January 2006, 12:33 GMT

Country profile: The Philippines



The Philippines consist of more than 7,000 islands, but the bulk of the population lives on just 11 of them.

The terrain is mostly mountainous and subject to earthquakes and eruptions from around 20 active volcanoes.


Two presidents of the Philippines were forced from office by "people power" in the space of 15 years.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/country_profiles/1262783.stm

Friday, 17 February 2006, 16:35 GMT

What caused Philippines landslide?

By Sarah Buckley
BBC News


Landslides, such as the one which has buried an entire community in the central Philippines, are often blamed on logging.


The landslide buried an entire community

This is because forest cover can play a vital role in maintaining land stability - both by absorbing the rain that can cause it to slip, and by securing soil and other vegetable matter to the bedrock with tree roots.


"Loss of forest cover does have a serious impact," said Beatrice Richards, head of forest trade and policy at the WWF.

Logging was blamed for a similar disaster in December 2003, and Philippines President Gloria Arroyo banned logging in December 2004.

Hugh Speechly, a forestry consultant who lived in the Philippines for 12 years, said that in fact much of the logging in the country had already taken place.

"The Philippines has gone from a major timber producing country to one where they import timber," he said, adding that in the 1930s, before it began serious logging, the nation had several million hectares of forest cover, compared with only about 600,000 untouched hectares today.

This sort of rainfall and landslide action in the Philippines at this time of year is quite unusual

Dave Petley, International Landslide Centre

"Certainly in Leyte, a lot of the forest cover has gone," he said.

"Because of population pressures, people push more into the upland areas to grow food and to do this they clear land."

In the case of Friday's events in Guinsaugon, Southern Leyte province, it seemed unlikely that logging was to blame.

Local officials and eyewitnesses said the surrounding area was well forested, and the governor's office said deforestation was not the causal factor this time, despite having admitted that was the case in a devastating landslide in Leyte in December 2003.

But Philippines Congressman Roger Mercado, who represents Southern Leyte, has blamed the disaster, to some extent, on mining and logging in the area three decades ago, Reuters news agency reported.

Rainfall

What experts did agree on was the probable impact of heavy rain in the area for up to two weeks before the landslide.

"All these extreme disasters are multicausal but there's usually some single trigger at the last minute," said Hazel Faulkner, senior research fellow at the Flood Hazard Research Centre at Middlesex University, London.




The area received about 200cm of rain in the last 10 days, officials said.

Heavy rain storms are frequent in the Philippines, and was also thought to be the trigger for the December 2003 landslide.

But Mr Speechly said he was surprised by such weather in February.

He said that severe storms normally ran between June and December.

Prof Dave Petley, professor at the International Landslide Centre, Durham University, agreed. "This sort of rainfall and landslide action in the Philippines at this time of year is quite unusual," he said.

The Philippines weather bureau has said adverse conditions since November might be linked to La Nina - a natural cyclical meteorological phenomenon which strikes South East Asia in certain years, bringing heavy rainfall.


PHILIPPINES STORMS
Dec 2004 About 1,800 people killed after a series of storms in north-eastern Philippines
Dec 2003 Up to 200 people die in landslides in Southern Leyte
Nov 1991 Typhoon Thelma strikes Leyte causing floods that drown at least 5,000
Prof Petley said the landslide statistics in the region this year suggested 2006 was a La Nina year.

The month of January in a typical year would normally see 60 landslide deaths worldwide, whereas January this year saw 283 landslide fatalities, many in Asia, he said.

A mild 2.6 magnitude earthquake which struck the area just before the landslip may also have contributed to it, although it did not appear strong enough to have triggered it on its own, experts said.

"The area could have really been ready for a landslide because of the amount of rainfall and if there was a minor earthquake, it might have hastened it," Rene Solidum, head of the Philippines government vulcanology office told reporters.

Another contributory factor could have been coconut trees in the area, which have only shallow roots, the daughter of Governor Rosette Lerias told the BBC.

Ms Faulkner said she did not know the exact impact of such a crop on the area.

But she said that it could be argued that a more shallowly rooted tree would not be as effective at counteracting the gravitational pull of the rainfall, and yet would contribute to the weight on a slope.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4723770.stm

Monday, 20 February 2006, 13:20 GMT

'Noises' spur on mud rescue push




Rescuers searching for survivors of a landslide in the Philippines on Friday have renewed their efforts after noises were reportedly heard underground.
One local official said people had been found alive, but US marines searching in the area denied this was true.

The landslide, triggered by heavy rain, covered the village in metres of mud.

At least 76 people have been confirmed killed by the mudslide, with officials estimating the total number of dead at 1,000, some 800 fewer than feared.

The BBC's Andrew Harding, at the scene, says there were reports that rescuers heard tapping noises below the mud, but that there remains no sign of life.

The spot where the village of Guinsaugon once stood is a total wasteland, he adds.

Hopes dashed

Rescue workers in Guinsaugon have continued searching for survivors buried in the mud.

I asked had they received or found any type of survivors, and the answer was no

Captain Burrell Parmer,
US Marines


'Treacherous mud'
In pictures: Search goes on
Was logging a factor?
Efforts have focused on a school where 200 children and 40 teachers were thought to have been trapped.

It was not clear if noises heard on Monday were caused by continuing movement of the earth, which remains unstable in the wake of the landslide.

However, a Philippine government official told a local TV station that rescue teams had found 50 survivors within the wreckage.

That claim prompted swift denials from the US marines helping to co-ordinate the rescue.

"We have yet to recover any survivor," Captain Burrell Parmer told the same TV channel, ABC-CBN.

"I asked had they received or found any type of survivors, and the answer was no," he added.

Recovery teams have dug about halfway down to the school building, which was estimated to be buried in up to 35m (115 feet) of mud.

US marines and Taiwanese teams are using life-detecting sonar equipment in the search.

Estimates revised

Seventy-six people have been confirmed dead, but about 1,000 residents are still believed to be missing.


Click to see more detailed map of the area


Enlarge Map

The Philippine government revised its figures of the number of dead down from 1,800, based on a recent survey showing that Guinsaugon had a population of 1,420.

About 400 villagers were found to have been away from the area at the time of the landslide.

Many residents had left when the heavy rains began, fearing landslides. But some had returned as the weather improved, despite warnings.

An official said the figures were still only estimates.

Meanwhile, geologists who have assessed the area from the air say the mountain surrounding the collapsed ridge is very unstable.



Mass burial

On Sunday, 50 recovered bodies were buried in mass graves.

The graves were sprinkled with holy water and lime powder - a measure Health Secretary Francisco Duque said was needed to prevent disease from spreading.

"They are being buried in such a way that they can be exhumed later," he told Reuters news agency.

Foreign aid has also been offered in the shape of financial donations.

Australia has offered more than $700,000 and China about $1m to provide shelter and relief to survivors.

Officials said the mudslide happened after about 200cm of rain (79 inches) fell in the area in the space of 10 days.

Correspondents say the area lies in the path of several typhoons each year, and that coconut trees - which are common locally - have shallow roots which leave the soil vulnerable to landslides.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4732178.stm

Xin Mời: Asia

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/asia_pol00.jpg

Three Quakes in Iran Kill at Least 66

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer
16 minutes ago

TEHRAN, Iran - Three strong earthquakes and several aftershocks reduced villages to rubble in western Iran early Friday, killing at least 66 people and injuring about 1,200 others, officials said.

At least 13 tremors jolted the mountainous region throughout the night, Tehran University's Geophysics Institute said.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported a 5.7-magnitude quake shortly before 5 a.m., followed by a 4.7-magnitude aftershock about 15 minutes later.

The quakes were centered near Boroujerd and Doroud, two industrial centers about 210 miles southwest of Tehran, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

The regional head of emergency response, Ali Barani, said about 200 villages were damaged, some flattened. Barani said hospitals in Doroud and Boroujerd were filled to capacity.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, visiting northern England, expressed her "deep sympathy" to the Iranians and offered assistance. The U.S. military provided aid after a devastating quake in southern Iran in 2003.

Washington and Tehran have no diplomatic relations and currently are at a stalemate over U.S. accusations that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies those charges.

After the first quake struck, police in the city of Boroujerd and the town of Doroud toured the streets with loudspeakers, urging people to leave their homes before more temblors hit.

The measure is believed to have contributed to a lower death toll than usual in Iran for quakes of this magnitude.

Many people ran into the streets in panic and refused to return to their homes.

"We are afraid to get back home. I spent the night with my family and guests in open space last night," Doroud resident Mahmoud Chaharmiri told The Associated Press by telephone.

Television showed survivors standing next to their destroyed houses in villages north of Doroud. The ground was strewn with the carcasses of sheep and goats killed by the quake.

Such quakes have killed thousands of Iranians in the past, especially in the countryside, where construction is often flimsy and many houses are built of mud bricks. But initial reports suggested the devastation was not so widespread this time.

Officials called doctors and nurses on leave back to work. Iranians are celebrating Nowruz, or new year, and most government offices are closed and their staff on holiday.

Barani told IRNA rescue teams had been sent to the region. He said survivors urgently needed blankets, tents and food.

State-run television said 66 bodies had been recovered from houses destroyed in Silakhor, a region north of Doroud.

The broadcast said 1,200 people were injured. Most people had been sleeping.

In February 2005, a 6.4-magnitude quake in southern Iran killed 612 people and injured more than 1,400.

A magnitude 6.6 quake flattened the historic southeastern city of Bam in the same region in December 2003, killing 26,000 people.

Iran is located on seismic fault lines and is prone to earthquakes. On average, it experiences at least one slight earthquake every day.

The area had been hit by a 4.7-magnitude quake the day before, according to the USGS, which monitors earthquakes around the world.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060331/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_quake

Asia is the largest continent in the world in both area and population.
Area: about 49 700 000 km2 (19 189 277 mi2) it covers about 60 percent of Earth's total land area.
Population: almost 4 billion human inhabitants, about 60 percent of the world's population. Seven out of ten of the most populated countries are in Asia (2004).
Highest Point: Sagarmatha (Chomolungma; Mount Everest) 8848m (29 028 ft) Nepal.
Largest Lake: Caspian Sea (salt lake) 371 000 km2 (143 250 mi2),
Ozero Baykal, Lake Baikal 31 500 km2 in Siberia is the world's largest freshwater lake by volume.
Longest River: Yangtze (Yángzî Jiang) China, 6380 km (3 964 mi).
Languages of Asia: Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Russian.

http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/asia.htm

Eastern Asia

Country Population Capital City
China 1 300 100 000 Beijing
China, Hong Kong SAR 6 800 000 -
China, Macau SAR 473 000 Macau City
China Tibet 2 620 000 Lhasa
Japan 127 700 000 Tokyo
Korea (North) 22 800 000 P'yongyang
Korea (South) 47 925 000 Seoul
Mongolia 2 500 000 Ulaanbaatar
Taiwan 22 600 000 Taipei

Northern Asia

Country Population Capital City
Russian Federation 145 000 000 Moscow

South-Central Asia


Country Population Capital City
Afghanistan 28 500 000 Kabul
Bangladesh 141 300 000 Dhaka
Bhutan 1 000 000 Thimphu
India 1 086 600 000 New Delhi
Iran 67 400 000 Teheran
Kazakhstan 15 000 000 Astana
Kyrgyzstan 5 100 000 Bishkek
Maldives 300 000 Male
Nepal 24 700 000 Kathmandu
Pakistan 159 200 000 Islamabad
Sri Lanka 19 000 000 Colombo
Tajikistan 6 600 000 Dushanbe
Turkmenistan 5 700 000 Ashgabat
Uzbekistan 26 400 000 Tashkent

South-East Asia

Country Population Capital City
Brunei Darussalam 400 000 Bandar Seri Begawan
Cambodia 13 100 000 Phnom Penh
Indonesia 218 700 000 Jakarta
Laos 5 800 000 Vientiane
Malaysia 25 600 000 Kuala Lumpur
Myanmar (Burma) 50 100 000 Yangon (Rangoon)
Philippines 83 700 000 Manila
Singapore 4 200 000 Singapore
Thailand 63 800 000 Bangkok
Timor-Leste 800 000 Dili
Viet Nam 81 500 000 Hanoi

Western Asia and Middle East

Country Population Capital City
Armenia 3 200 000 Yerevan
Azerbaijan 8 300 000 Baku
Bahrain 700 000 Manama
Cyprus 793 100 Nicosia (Lefkosia)
Georgia 4 500 000 T'bilisi
Iraq 25 900 000 Baghdad
Israel 6 800 000 Jerusalem
Jordan 5 600 000 Amman
Kuwait 2 500 000 Kuwait (City)
Lebanon 4 500 000 Beirut
Oman 2 700 000 Muscat
Palestine 3 800 000 Jerusalem (claimed)
Qatar 700 000 Doha (Al-Dawhah)
Saudi Arabia 25 100 000 Riyadh
Syria 18 000 000 Damascus
Turkey 71 300 000 Ankara
United Arab Emirates 4 200 000 Abu Dhabi
Yemen 20 000 000 Sanaa

Source: Population Reference Bureau-- 2004 World Population Data Sheet

http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/asia.htm

Thursday May 4, 7:54 PM

Lava Flows From Indonesia's Merapi Volcano

Mount Merapi is seen from Ketep village, near the Indonesia city of Magelang, April 28, 2006. REUTERS/Beawiharta



http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060504/3/2k2yw.html


http://www.voanews.com/vietnamese/2006-05-04-voa36.cfm

Thursday May 4, 7:54 PM
Lava flows from Indonesia's Merapi volcano

(Photo: Reuters
Click to enlarge)

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Lava flowed out of rumbling Mount Merapi, Indonesia's most active volcano, on Thursday but it stopped far away from inhabited areas on its slopes and in the foothills, a volcanologist said.
Gunung Merapi, or Fiery Mountain, is one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and has been rumbling for weeks. Experts have said an eruption could come anytime.

But authorities have not yet raised the alert level from "2" to "1", which would require the immediate evacuation of people living under the volcano.

"It started from 2 a.m. (1900 GMT) and is still flowing until now to a valley 200 metres (650 feet) away from the peak," said volcano observer Sapari Dwiyono from the state-run Centre for Volcano Research and Technology Development in Yogyakarta, the nearest city to the volcano.

"The closest houses are 6 km away," he told Reuters, adding the flow could only be seen from the mountain's southeastern foothill.

Merapi killed 70 people in a 1994 eruption and 1,300 in 1930.

Indonesia, which has the world's highest density of volcanoes, has already moved about 1,300 people away from Merapi, but officials put the total number of residents on and near the mountain at around 14,000, which includes villages in Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces.

Most of those relocated are women, children and the elderly. Some return to their homes near the volcano during the day to feed livestock, local officials say.

Villagers living on the slopes or in the shadows of Mount Merapi say they will stay put until nature sends signals, or the government forces them to leave. Many fear losing property and livestock if they go.

Residents say signals would include lightning around the mountain's peak or animals moving down its slopes.

Some local people consider the mountain sacred, and every year a priest climbs to the top to make an offering.


http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060504/3/2k2xj.html

10 dead in Indonesia earthquake

2 minutes ago

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia - A powerful earthquake rocked Indonesia's Central Java province early Saturday, damaging buildings and killing at least 10 people, state media and witnesses said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck at 5:54 a.m. 15 miles southwest of the city of Yogyakarta.

At least 10 bodies of quake victims were at the city's Bethseda hospital, state news agency Antara reported.

A witness in the city told The Associated Press he had seen three bodies under the rubble of two houses and that scores of injured were being taken to the city's hospitals in pickup trucks. That report couldn't immediately be confirmed with authorities.

Injuries were also reported in the nearby cities of Solo and Bantul.

Police said electricity and communications across Yogyakarta were knocked out.

Shortly before the quake, the nearby Mount Merapi volcano sent out a cloud of hot gas and ash. It was not immediately clear if the volcanic activity and the earthquake were linked.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

A magnitude 6 quake has the potential to cause severe damage.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060527/ap_on_re_as/indonesia_earthquake

15 dead after earthquake rocks Indonesia
6 minutes ago

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia - A powerful earthquake rocked Indonesia's Central Java province early Saturday, damaging buildings and killing at least 15 people, authorities said.

The 6.2 magnitude quake also triggered heightened activity in the region's Mount Merapi volcano, which has been spewing out clouds of hot ash, gas and lava for several weeks, scientists said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck at 5:54 a.m. 15 miles southwest of the city of Yogyakarta.

Djadjat, an official the country's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency who goes by just one name, said at least 15 people were killed by falling rubble.

A witness in the city told The Associated Press he had seen three bodies under the rubble of two houses and that scores of injured were being taken to the city's hospitals in pickup trucks. That report couldn't immediately be confirmed with authorities.

Injuries were also reported in the nearby cities of Solo and Bantul.

Police said electricity and communications across Yogyakarta were knocked out.

The quake cracked the runway in Yogyakarta's airport, closing it to aircraft until at least Sunday while inspections take place, Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa said.

"It felt really powerful, and the whole building shook," said Narman, a receptionist at a hotel in the city. "Everyone ran from their rooms."

In the chaos that followed the quake, rumors of an impending tsunami sent thousands of people fleeing to higher ground in cars and motorbikes. The city is around 20 miles from the sea, and more than two hours after the quake no tsunami had occurred.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

A magnitude 6 quake has the potential to cause severe damage.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060527/ap_on_re_as/indonesia_earthquake

Typhoon Chanchu pounds China coast, killing at least 11

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published May 19, 2006


SHANGHAI, China - A powerful typhoon pummeled southern China on Thursday, killing at least 11 people and leaving 27 Vietnamese fishermen missing after their boats sank in Chinese waters.

Typhoon Chanchu has killed at least 50 people in Asia, including 37 last weekend in the Philippines, where it destroyed thousands of homes. In the western Pacific, west of the International Dateline, hurricanes are called typhoons.

There were fears the death toll could rise dramatically

The storm hit the coast of China early Thursday, flooding scores of homes and forcing the evacuation of more than 1-million people before weakening to a severe tropical storm.

The official Xinhua News Agency said eight people died and four were missing when mudslides buried two homes in coastal Fujian province. Three others, including two children, were killed when the storm made landfall near Shantou in the northern tip of China's Guangdong province, knocking over houses.

The missing Vietnamese fishermen were on three boats that sank in Chinese waters, Vietnamese officials said Thursday. Six other boats with 67 fishermen were able to reach an island and report the sinking of the other vessels. Vietnam asked Chinese authorities to help search for the missing.

Taiwan reported the deaths of two women swept away by floods in the southern region of Pingtung on Wednesday.

In southern Japan, high waves swept away three 17-year-old male students swimming off Hateruma island in the Okinawa chain, leaving one dead and another missing, coast guard spokesman Shoji Kawabata said. The third was rescued.

China said it had moved more than 1-million people to safety in Guangdong and Fujian provinces. The storm bypassed the financial center of Hong Kong on the Guangdong coast.

Nearly 100,000 ships were ordered to return to harbor, Xinhua said.

Television news showed violent waves pounding sea walls along China's coast. Reports said winds and rain damaged dikes, uprooted trees and brought down buildings along the Guangdong coast.

[Last modified May 19, 2006, 06:39:17]

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/05/19/Worldandnation/Typhoon_Chanchu_pound.shtml