Typhoon Mangkhut may have passed through the Philippines days ago, but the aftereffects and the search for survivors are still underway.
The resort island of Cebu has experienced major landslides in the past few days after Mangkhut hit, burying a number of homes under the mud, with dozens of residents suspected to have been inside the houses at the time.
According to CNN , rescue workers trying to dig through the mud and debris say they can hear shouting coming from under the landslides, giving them hope that they may find a significant number of survivors once they have cleared the site. Family members of those under the mud also say they have been receiving text messages from those trapped. Rescue teams believe they may be trapped in air pockets.
In the city of Naga, four bodies have already been pulled from the rubble by rescue workers, which includes a four-year-old and an elderly woman. Some people have also been pulled from the debris alive.
Naga Police Chief Inspector Roden Ylan Gonzales stated that 24 houses were buried under the landslides, which occurred after a number of days of heavy rainfall on the island. Cebu wasn’t directly in the path of the super typhoon, but the storm still resulted in plenty of weather anomalies.
LOOK: A woman was rescued from the landslide in Naga City. | via Arni Aclao pic.twitter.com/Vpj96kGs4t
— SunStar Cebu (@sunstarcebu) September 20, 2018
Philippines Red Cross has responded to the disaster, administering aid to those pulled from the landslides.
The mining town of Itogon also experienced landslides in the Cordillera region in the north of Luzon, leaving at least 18 people dead under the mud. Hundreds of homes were obliterated in the rockfalls, and dozens were buried under the debris. The majority of those affected in Itogon were miners and their families. That landslide occurred on Saturday, also as a result of the heavy rains brought on by Mangkhut.
The death toll from Mangkhut tallies 63 at this stage, and has left 42 people injured. Dozens are still missing in Luzon, the most populous province of the Philippines.
The country was warned of the typhoon before it made landfall in the Philippines, but locals were nonetheless shocked by the scale of the destruction the storm brought with it.
“This is the first time I’ve seen this kind of landslide. It’s massive, and almost everyone is affected. Even the miners are helping the rescuers, the police — everyone is giving their best,” one rescuer said.
Mangkhut is the world’s biggest storm system on record for 2018 so far.