Roof spotted in landslide site not school's

GUINSAUGON - The roof that rescue workers had hoped would lead them to an elementary school buried by a mudslide turned out to be that of a house, the Philippine army said Friday, dealing another blow to the chances of finding survivors. The school has been the focus of the desperate search for survivors from the Feb. 17 landslide that engulfed this farming village in the southeastern Philippines. The official death toll stood at 132 with more than 900 missing. More than 240 students and teachers are believed to be buried in the school but rescuers have yet to locate the building. The roof was spotted in aerial photographs far from what was believed to have been the elementary school's original site. Officials speculated that the wall of mud, boulders and trees from the collapse of a nearby mountainside had swept the school away. That was not the case, said Philippine Maj. Gen. Bonifacio Ramos. "According to our rescuers, it is not the school roof. It is the roofing of a house," he said. No one has been found alive since the first hours after the disaster, and chances were slim of finding more survivors, said Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the Philippine Red Cross. "A decision will have to made to make this consecrated ground," he said. News about the roof came as rescue workers took advantage of clearing skies to launch their biggest operation so far. Hundreds of U.S. Marines and other rescuers dug with picks and shovels in the mud. Most rescuers focused on a cluster of crumpled tin roofs and part of a big house in the mud, removing rocks by hand. A top U.N. disaster official urged rescuers to focus on caring for people made homeless by the landslide. "Taking care of those still alive is equally or more important than prolonging the (search) operation," said Puji Pujiono, leader of the United Nations disaster assessment and coordination team at the site. Pujiono urged the Philippine government to make a list of needs for the hundreds of evacuees so other countries could coordinate donations, and warned of the threat of disease and overcrowding for those who lost their homes. Many are staying in schools in the nearby town of St. Bernard. -AP