Concerns rose yesterday for the welfare of survivors from a deadly Philippine landslide as chickenpox and other infectious diseases broke out in packed evacuation centres.

"The health concern is more within the evacuation centres," Health Secretary Francisco Duque said on television, adding that, so far, medics had diagnosed nine cases of chickenpox, three cases of measles and three cases of sore eyes.

"The stench of recovered bodies could be a cause of concern."

Friday's landslide, triggered by five times the region's normal rainfall over two weeks, obliterated Guinsaugon, a farming village of about 1,800 people which stood about 675 kilometres southeast of Manila.

About 400 people who escaped the landslide in Guinsaugon, along with more than 1,600 people evacuated from neighbouring villages, are sheltering in parish churches and schools while emergency teams dig up and then bury the dead.

Survivors' hopes have faded for a miracle rescue of some of their 1,300 relatives and friends entombed in the fetid mud, which is up to 40 metres deep in some places.

So far, 94 bodies have been recovered.

Sonar equipment failed yesterday to detect any new scratching noises after rhythmic sounds had been picked up close to a packed elementary school late on Monday evening.

Conditions are treacherous. Emergency workers from China, Spain and Malaysia, the American Marines, along with Philippine soldiers and miners, have had to contend with deep, shifting mud which threatens to swallow them in places.

Mass burials, conducted with holy water and powdered lime, are taking place to prevent disease spreading in the hot, wet conditions.

Officials have talked of eventually closing off the landslide area and leaving it as a mass burial ground.

In hospital, survivors told of jumping from roofs to escape the torrent of mud. One six-year-old girl survived by clinging to a coconut tree.

"In one instant, in one flick of a hand, or before you can blink an eye, the landslide was there," said Vicenta Solis, a 45-year old mother of two.

Government vulcanologists reminded residents in the central Philippines yesterday not to venture near the 2,460-metre Mayon volcano after their instruments detected successive low-volcanic quakes since Monday. Mayon last erupted in July 2001.

Source: China Daily