MANILA, Feb. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- At least 200 people were feared killed and 1,500 others missing, with 10 hectares of land were smothered in a landslide that hit Barangay (village) Guinsaugon in St. Bernard town, Southern Leyte province, Central Philippines on Friday morning, according to Red Cross officials.

Map of Philippine, the red arrow indicates the Leyte island. (file photo)

    Some 300 houses, including a school packed with elementary students, were buried under tons of mud and rock that cascaded from a nearby mountain.

    Local officials said that the death toll could rise because the entire village with a population of 2,000 had been affected by the landslide.

    Initial reports said the landslide happened around 11:15 a.m. local time, killing four people in what was described as a densely populated village. Many of the casualties were feared to be children as classes were going on in an area school when the disaster occurred.

    Rescuers from the Philippine Army and Philippine Air Force rushed to St. Bernard town after landslide hit Barangay Guinsaugon past 10 a.m. on Friday.

    Like much of Eastern Visayas region in south-central Philippines, Southern Leyte has been experiencing continuous rainfall for the past two weeks, which experts attributed to the La Nina weather phenomenon.

Leyte beach (file photo)

    Last Sunday, a landslide hit Sogod municipality, also in Southern Leyte, where eight people died when traveling on two motorcycles on a road.

    Meanwhile, more than a dozen people were also killed in northern Mindanao, which neighbors Eastern Visayas, by flooding caused by heavy rains over the past two weeks.

    Emergency teams from the National Disaster Coordinating Council, Philippine Army, Philippine National Police and the Southern Leyte provincial government have been deployed in the area, said local officials.

    The Philippine government has asked local authorities and farmers to be fully prepared for the La Nina weather phenomenon, which is characterized by heavy rains and sometimes tropical storms. Authorities said the bad weather could continue until May. Enditem

    Backgrounder: 

    The Leyte island measures about 180 km north-south and about 65 km at its widest point.

    In the north it nearly joins Samar, separated by the San Juanico Strait , which becomes as narrow as 2 km in some places. The island province of Biliran is also to the north of Leyte and is joined to Leyte island by a bridge across the narrow Biliran Strait.

    To the south Leyte is separated from Mindanao by the Surigao Strait. To the east, Leyte is somewhat "set back" from the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, Samar to the northeast and Dinagat to the southeast forming the Leyte Gulf. To the west are Cebu and Bohol.

    Leyte is mostly heavily forested and mountainous, but the Leyte Valley in the northeast has much agriculture.