Landslides seem to be the dominant news event in the Philippines this week. Yesterday, it was reported that heavy rains resulted in a landslide in Negros Oriental. The day before that another one was reported in Zamboanga. However, it has been the landslide in St. Bernard in southern Leyte that dominated the headlines. So massive was the destruction resulting from a mountainside burying an entire village that it deflected attention away from the “Wowowee” stampede disaster from 2 weeks ago that it hardly figures in the local news anymore.
Rain and bad weather seems to be hanging over the disaster area making rescue efforts difficult. Search and rescue dogs from the Philippine Canine Search and Rescue Foundation, Inc. were deployed on Saturday morning. Bad weather forced the team to be transported by land rather than by helicopter. It took nearly 6 hours to reach the area from Tacloban City. Text messages were flying around yesterday that 50 survivors were found. Unfortunately it was just a rumor and the possibility of finding survivors decrease exponentially everyday. Most are now searching for corpses instead. So far, 94 deaths have been confirmed with more than 1,000 more listed as missing.
More sophisticated search equipment is needed to sift through and dig through all the mud and the debris. Fortunately for the Philippines, US forces are in the country for “Balikatan” training exercises. Apparently a total of 5,500 US troops are in the country for training exercises. Three thousand have been re-deployed to Leyte to help local and international search and rescue teams in the area.
I’ve just found out that I am scheduled out on a C-130 transport flight to Leyte at 7AM tomorrow morning. Hopefully this pans out. That flight is being prioritized for the dependents/relatives of victims/survivors in Leyte. Seven other media personnel and 3 PAF personnel are also listed for the flight. Looks like Step 1, getting there, is pretty much set. Step 2 is getting to St. Bernard from Tacloban. Step 3 – finding a place to sleep: well I’ll have to figure it out when I get there.
I’m off to pack my sleeping bag and to borrow a tent.
