Mudslide Search Is Called Off
With only 139 bodies recovered and nearly a thousand villagers missing, officials in the Philippines on Friday declared an end to the search for survivors of a landslide that engulfed this farming village a week ago.
Emergency crews will now focus on helping evacuees who lost their homes.
“We have decided to move on to recovery and rehabilitation of survivors because our greater responsibility ... is to rebuild the lives of those who have been devastated by this disaster,” said Rosette Lerias, governor of Southern Leyte province.
Hundreds of U.S. Marines and other rescue workers have been digging Guinsaugon out from under the mud, but not a single person has been found alive since just after the Feb. 17 disaster.
Three bodies were found Friday. An additional 973 people are believed buried beneath tons of earth that swept over the village when a mountain collapsed, Lerias said.
Search teams plan to continue looking for bodies for a week or two before the area is made into a memorial.
Lerias said the decision to call off the search came after heavy rain forced rescuers to halt their work because of the risk of further landslides.
“Nature was working against us,” she said.
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