Hundreds of US Marines and other rescue workers were digging with picks and shovels in the mud covering the village of Guinsaugon, said US Navy Cmdr. Manuel Biadog, a Filipino-American chaplain assigned to the Marines based in Okinawa, Japan.
"Today’s operation is the biggest so far," Biadog said. He said clearing skies after days of heavy rain had allowed workers to step up their efforts, even though the likelihood that there were more trapped survivors of the disaster was remote.
Much of the mud throughout the 100-acre landslide zone remains unsettled, especially after the continued rains. The village is buried in mud up to 35 meters deep.
"We know there is real danger," Southern Leyte Gov. Rosette Lerias said.
Maj. Gen. Bonifacio Ramos said water would be pumped out of the area, then a special team of highly qualified rescue workers would be airlifted to the spot.
Rescue workers said yesterday that a roof uncovered after the landslide was not that of the village’s buried elementary school, as had been hoped.
"It is not the school," a disappointed Philippine Air Force Capt. Roman Diso said. "We thought it was, from the description we were given, but it turns out that this one had wooden trusses and the school had iron."
The roof emerged from the muck on Thursday, raising hopes that it was the school building where over 240 schoolchildren and staff were thought to be buried in the Feb. 17 landslide.
On Thursday night, Lerias said aerial photographs showed "very clearly" the roof of what many thought was the village elementary school, which has been the focus of the search for a week. This was 300 meters away from the original site of the school, and officials have speculated that the collapse of the nearby mountainside could have swept the school away.
Marine Lt. Patrick Lavoie said the Marines have started to build a road toward the site of the elementary school to allow heavy equipment to reach the area.
With the prospect of finding anyone alive shrinking by the hour, there has been talk of calling off rescue efforts. A group of 33 firefighters from Cebu, who have been digging every day, said they likely would head home as of yesterday.
The rain also hampered rescue teams with sniffing dogs and sound detectors as they combed other parts of the muddy swamp that was once Guinsaugon.
The disaster has sparked a massive international relief operation with teams from at least seven nations involved, including a delegation of US Marines.
Rescue workers waded through mud to get to the site, while others were flown in by helicopters, winched down to the roof.
Twenty-two people were pulled out of the landslide within hours, but only corpses have been found since then. The death toll has reached 131 with 938 people missing and believed dead.
The government has set up a forensics center to try to identify unclaimed corpses through fingerprints and dental records.
Thirty unidentified corpses were buried in a mass grave at the town’s Catholic cemetery late Sunday. Guinsaugon Mayor Maria Lim said the municipal health office decided to bury the corpses in a mass grave to prevent the spread of disease.
Public figures have flocked to the disaster site to offer help to the landslide victims.
Business tycoon Lucio Tan personally gave P1,000 to each victim yesterday, while boxer Manny Pacquiao made a brief visit and donated P300 to each of the victims at the evacuation center.
US embassy spokesman Matthew Lussenhop said the Balikatan 2006 humanitarian mission in Sulu would still push through even as the US military diverted logistics to the rescue mission in Guinsaugon.
The Sulu humanitarian mission, which formally opened in Jolo Feb. 18, focuses on the building of schools, water wells, road rehabilitation, construction of mosques and clinics, as well as medical missions.
The US military, according to Lussenhop, poured about $250,000 into these projects.
US and Filipino troops have served 1,500 patients — the biggest number of civilians the US troops have treated on a medical mission.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) expressed alarm yesterday over the possibility that children orphaned by the landslide would fall into the hands of human traffickers.
UNICEF emergency focal person Leon Dominador Fajardo said they had already "heard of outsiders allegedly looking for orphans to adopt." UNICEF records show that around 87 children survived the disaster, losing one or both parents.
UNICEF claimed Leyte is a "known transit point" for trafficked children. In February alone, the non-government group Visayan Forum documented 25 cases of trafficking there. — James Mananghaya, Roberto Dejon, Roel Pareño, Sheila Crisostomo, AP, AFP