LEAD: Hope fades for those still missing after Philippine quake

Feb 10, 2012, 9:03 GMT

Manila - Survivors of a magnitude-6.9 earthquake in the central Philippines were losing hope Friday that missing relatives would still be found alive after four days of desperate searching.

At least 39 have been confirmed killed in Monday's quake in Negros Oriental province, 570 kilometres south of Manila, which suffered the most damage. More than half of the casualties were buried in landslides triggered by the tremor.

Civil defence chief Benito Ramos said five bodies were recovered from landslides in the village of Planas in Guihulngan City and the village of Solonggon in La Libertad town on Friday.

'The number of missing is now down to 66,' he said. 'We are not giving up hope but as I said before, the chances of finding survivors are slim.'

Relatives of the missing pleaded with authorities to step up search and rescue operations, which were suspended on Thursday due to heavy rains.

'I don't think there is hope that they are still alive,' said Jerwell Pocong, whose wife, two children and parents were among those missing in Solonggon. 'The landslide is so huge.'

Pocong said he hoped authorities would bring in more people and equipment to find the missing.

'Please find them. Please do everything to find them,' he said.

Pocong's sister, Fely, said they have not been able to rest since the quake because they were afraid of the many aftershocks.

'I just hope they find my parents' bodies,' she said. 'We can't sleep, it's hard. We're afraid we will die from the aftershocks.'

Ramos said the army was able to bring a bulldozer to the village of Planas to fast-track the operations. Rescuers had been digging through the rubble with hand-held shovels and picks.

More than 80,000 residents in the affected villages have refused to return home and were staying in evacuation centres or makeshift tents amid fears their houses were not safe.

'We're safer here outside,' one mother of four children told a Manila television station. 'My children have been having trouble sleeping, they wake up screaming.'

More than 1,400 houses collapsed due to the quake, while 1,566 were partially damaged. Many roads cracked while three key bridges in the province collapsed, the Office of Civil Defence (OCD) said.

Damage caused by the tremor were estimated to cost at least 265.76 million pesos (6.33 million dollars), the OCD said.

The Philippines, located along the Pacific 'Ring of Fire,' suffered its worst earthquake in 1990 when a 7.7-magnitude tremor killed nearly 2,000 people on the northern island of Luzon.