The village of Guinsaugon, next to Saint-Bernard town, in the South of the island of Leyte, in the centre of the Philippines, was totally destroyed by a tide of water and earth detaching from a mountain.

The endless rains which have been raging in the region for two weeks, caused that, together with an earthquake tremor - a seism of 2.6 on Richter scale - which, in a way, contributed to cause the huge earthquake. 200 dead and 1.500 people missing: a school with 250 children was flooded.

So far, only 45 inhabitants were rescued by helpers. In the village, according to the Filipino delegate Mr Roger Mercado, there were 3.000 - 4.000 people. Behind this tragedy, blames and negligences can be found. The landscape of this region underwent any kind of destructions, from the mines excavations to the foolish deforestation.

The helpers found themselves in trouble. The roads are blocked, as well as the access to the region. They excavated with their own hands, with any possible means. During a speech on tv, the President of the Philippines, Ms Gloria Arrojo, stated aid started arriving "by earth, air and sea" towards the remains of that village, which is very difficult to reach.

«Navy units will be used as floating hospitals and coordination centers for the operations of the Civil Protection». An areoplane left from the capital, Manila, carrying relief goods of any kind, including also 1000 plastic sacks for the corpses recovered.

International solidarity set out, too. Two American war ships taking part into manoeuvres to the North of Manila sailed towards that place. In Geneva, the International Red Cross unfroze 128.000,00 Euro from their emergency fund for this disaster and appelead to the world in order to collect 2 million francs (1,28 million euros). This sum will help to buy materials such as tents, kitchen tools, mosquito nets, hygienic items and water purification tablets for the survivors for the next 6 months.