Leyte Landslide: Buried use SMS to call for help
February 20, 2006 by Jayvee Fernandez
Filed under Mobile Monitor, The Unwired Life
FORWARDED text message from the dead: ‘Ma’am, we are still under the school. Please help us, ma’am. This is Edilio Coquilla. Please ma’am.’
A huge tragedy hit the remote province of Leyte, Philippines where a huge mudslide buried an entire village.
The Guinsaugon Elementary School (GES) in this town had been the emotional focus of search and rescue operations after a deadly avalanche of mud and rocks swamped Barangay Guinsaugon and buried close to 2,000 people. Many of the villagers were feared killed.
One of the structures that was buried was the local town’s elementary school where signs of life were given off by hollowed scratching through the debris of wood and mud. As of late, the search for survivors and the treatment of wounded are stil ongoing, as well as the burying of the dead.
I send a prayer out for the rescue teams composed of Filipinos and American troops as well as those still trapped under the debris.
[via INQ7.net]
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