More than 2,000 people are feared dead after Friday’s mudslide in the village of Guinsaugon in the Leyte province in the Philippines. After two weeks of heavy downpour the mudslide occurred in the morning hours, burying the entire village. Hectic rescue operations have carried on throughout the weekend, but by now little hope remains of finding any more survivors. Yet efforts to assist the survivors proceed, and the Danish Red Cross is taking part in those efforts.
The Danish humanitarian organization has donated 700,000 DKK to the relief work, but has also directed many of its local volunteers to the catastrophe site. For more than 10 years the Danish Red Cross has been preparing several local villages in this area for catastrophic events such as Friday’s mudslide by training the people in first aid and in instant relief routines. These Danish-led training projects have now come in hand.
“Local Red Cross volunteers are in the area right now, where they are looking for survivors and giving first aid to the wounded. But it is not easy to work in that area. Masses of water are surrounding the village, and roads have been destroyed,” explains Knud Falk, who is a Red Cross catastrophe advisor.
The Danish Red Cross handed over the local catastrophe training projects to the Red Cross in the Philippines as of 2005, since outside help was no longer needed to maintain the programme.
