Philippine landslide may kill hundreds 17/02 23:55:20

The Philippines suffered another national disaster which could have killed hundreds if not thousands when a devastating landslide buried alive a whole village in Southern Leyte province in the central Visayas region.

President Hu offers condolences over Filipino landslide victims 17/02 20:38:11

Chinese President Hu Jintao sent amessage of condolence on Friday to Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo over the heavy casualties and property loss caused by a massive landslide in the country.

15 confirmed dead, thousands missing in Filipino mudslide 17/02 20:53:02

At least 15 people were confirmed dead, 58 survivors were recovered and thousands remained missing by Friday evening after a massive landslide reduced a green farmland valley into a huge burial ground of mud and rock submerging three entire villages in minutes.

Hundreds feared dead in major Filipino mudslide 17/02 18:52:38

The Chinese Government sent a task force organized by the Foreign Ministry to Karachi Thursday to help deal with the aftermath of three Chinese engineers' death in Pakistan.

200 killed, 1500 missing in Filipino mudslide 17/02 15:37:16

China has announced that it will not evacuate engineers and technicians from Pakistan after three Chinese engineers were shot dead in Pakistan on Wednesday.

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.