Philippines site ‘looks like a moonscape’

Mark Potter Correspondent • E-mail

GUINSAUGON, Philippines — With estimates of up to 1,000 dead, the chances of finding any more survivors at the site of the landslide in Guinsaugon, Philippines, are fading fast, but the muddy rescue effort continues.

NBC News’ Mark Potter describes the "moonscape"- like scene at the landslide site and the glimmer of hope there reflected by the tremendous outpouring of international aid.

How is the search-and-recovery effort going?
Actually, it’s still considered a search-and-rescue effort. The Philippine authorities still believe there is a chance there are survivors.

The U.S. Marine Corps is following the lead of the Philippine officials and treating this as a search-and-rescue effort. So they are continuing to dig in the area where they believe the schoolhouse that had 246 students and their teachers inside at the time of the mudslide, and a municipal auditorium, also crowded when the tragedy occurred, are located.

They are using listening devices, and they hope to put ventilation tubes down into where they think the schoolhouse might be.

There are also people here from Taiwan. The Malaysians have brought their equipment to listen for human sounds underground. Some authorities have reported hearing some sounds, but it’s unclear what they are.

The fervent hope among many here is that they are human sounds, but there are concerns that perhaps this is just the sound of earth shifting or water running through the mudslide area. It’s hard to tell.

There has been no confirmation that any humans are still alive under the tons and tons of rock and mud that are sitting over what used to be an active farming community. No survivors have been found for four days now. But the mission continues.

What is the scene like at the site?
On Monday, we climbed through the rock, a difficult trek, to see the area where the rescue workers are digging.

Standing there, you can appreciate the massive amount of rock and mud that sits on top of the area. It looks like a moonscape as you look out across it.

It appears like the mountain itself just collapsed and poured everything downward over the town. There is nothing left. There are a few rooftops at the base of the village, but that’s it. Everything else is gone.

Slide show   Massive mudslide Rescuers search through the mud after a landslide buried a Philippine village.

Many people believe that there can simply be no more survivors than those rescued on the first day because of the massive size of this mudslide area, which covers acres and acres.

That was the thing that struck me most. I expected to see a lot of mud and loose dirt, but when we got up there we thought, maybe it’s not properly named a “mudslide.” We though that what it really looks like is a “rockslide,” a “landslide,” or even a “land slip.”

The thought of what happened when all of that rock came racing down the mountain into that town makes you wonder how anyone could have survived.

Amazingly, a few did. Then there were the few who were outside the town doing their business at work or going elsewhere to school. They survived, but when you look at them, you can see that they are suffering from great pain.

A lot of the people are clearly still in shock, wondering why this happened. And they are still carrying hope that survivors will be found, that their loved ones will be found. It’s painful to watch.

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