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As soon as Dugmor and Jscott heard the news on Friday afternoon they packed water and food and boarded a boat for a short 10 hour boat ride to Saint Bernard in Southern Leyte. Where a collapsed mountainside had entombed a village of 1,800 people in the remote village of Guinsaugon. Dugmor and Jscott wanted to do anything we could to help these people. A pile of mud and debris covered the area where Guinsaugon, a farming community in Southern Leyte province once stood.
Dugmor and Jscott where some of the first to arrive on Saturday 7: 00 a.m. to join other rescuers with hope for saving mudslide survivors. Battling deep, shifting mud and heavy rain, search teams focused on a school packed with more than 250 children and staff. The mud was as deep as 10 metres (32 feet) in some places. Not to mention a raging river that separated the acres and acres of mud and debris from the main road making the rescue efforts even more difficult.There is very little evidence of where the village once stood.
Hundreds of volunteers continued to arrive to help the rescue efforts. The US Military aided in using 2 helicopters to transport food, water and supplies to the disaster area.
The Philippines is usually hit by about 20 typhoons every year, with residents and environmental groups often blaming illegal logging or mining for increasing the chance of landslides. Experts say the mudslide was caused by over 27 inches of rain over the past two weeks. Leyte Island suffered flash floods in 1991, more than 5,000 people died in floods brought on by a typhoon.
Other villages around Guinsaugon were evacuated over the weekend as more potential catastrophes caused by rains triggered by the La Nina weather pattern and are expected to last until June.
Those wishing to donate can using
www.xoom.com
C/O Father Fancisco Vega
San Isidro Parish
St. Bernard, Maasin
6616 Leyte Philippines
0919-8433246
Email:
stbenardleyteparish@gmail.com
Despite this natural disaster the people are amazing and The Philippines in general is really beautiful.
Tthis is the news referance:
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/as...ide/index.html