Rains, landslides in southern Philippine

Floods and landslides triggered by heavy monsoon rains have killed 16 people in the southern Philippines and displaced tens of thousands, a disaster official said yesterday.

"We've been soaked by so much rains during the past six weeks due to a procession of typhoons and the southwest monsoon," said Anthony Golez, a spokesman of the Office of Civil Defence.

He said 10 people drowned in flash floods in the southern provinces of Lanao del Norte and Saranggani, while six were buried alive in Zamboanga del Sur.

"We're doing everything to provide assistance to the flood and landslide victims," Mr Golez said, adding food, warm clothes and temporary shelters had been rushed to the affected communities in the south.

Tens of thousands were displaced by the floodwaters and landslides. Eight people, including two children, were reported missing when soil, loosened by almost five days of rain, buried a cluster of shacks in the southwestern province of Zamboanga del Sur on Monday.

Mr Golez said nearly 50 million pesos ($980,000) in crops and infrastructure were either destroyed or damaged by the rains in the south.

Weather forecasters warned of more rains as the 11th typhoon to cross into the country this year was spotted approaching the northern island of Batanes yesterday, moving slowly from the Pacific.

In neighbouring China, 255 people have been killed and around 140 people were still missing after the strongest typhoon to hit the country in half a century barrelled through China's southern provinces.