The Chinese government has offered US$1 million worth of assistance to help relieve victims of the mudslide in the Philippines.

 

The Ministry of Commerce made the announcement Saturday in Beijing. The assistance includes US$250,000 in cash.

 

Up to 3,000 people are missing and feared dead after a massive mudslide buried a village in the central Philippines, officials said.

 

Only 109 bodies have so far been recovered, along with 57 survivors, from the mud that engulfed the farming village of Guinsaugon in the south of the Philippine island of Leyte on Friday, rescue official, Hermigildo Castil, said.

 

Upon learning of the tragedy, Chinese President Hu Jintao sent a letter of condolence to his counterpart, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. 

 

(CRI February 19, 2006)