Many feared dead in Philippine mudslide

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MANILA (Reuters) - Mudslides triggered by heavy rains buried two villages in the central Philippines on Friday, killing at least four people and raising fears of a far higher death toll, officials and witnesses said.
Congressman Roger Mercado told Reuters that as many as 2,000 people might have died, according to estimates by local officials.
The Office of Civil Defense said the 2,000 could refer to those feared missing around Saint Bernard town in Leyte province.
A radio operator at the Emergency and Rescue Foundation, a private group, said there were unconfirmed reports that one area of Saint Bernard was 90 percent under mud, including a school.
"You can't find any standing structure," Mercado told Reuters by telephone. "It's very terrible."
One survivor feared for her children.
"I felt the earth shake and a strong gust of wind, then I felt mud at my feet," Didita Kamarenta, who lives on a mountain next to one of the villages, said on radio.
"All the children, including my two children, are lost. They might have been buried."
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.
In the worst disaster in recent years, more than 5,000 people died in southern Leyte in 1991 in floods triggered by a typhoon.
Sixteen people were killed earlier this week when heavy rains and flash floods hit southeastern provinces. Environmental groups blame illegal logging for making the flooding worse.
Farmers and government agencies have been warned to prepare for heavy rains and flash floods from a stormy La Nina weather pattern that might hit the country.
La Nina features unusually cool surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean resulting in storm surges and strong winds. The weather bureau said typhoons, floods and rains since November might be linked to the development of the pattern.
The damage to infrastructure and agriculture from recent heavy rains has already cost 114.6 million pesos ($2.2 million), the National Disaster Coordinating Council said.
The Philippines grows rice, corn, coconuts, mangoes and other tropical fruit.