By OLIVER TEVES, Associated Press Writer Sun Dec 3, 2:01 PM ET
DARAGA, Philippines - The Red Cross estimated Sunday that up to 1,000 people may have died in the typhoon that unleashed walls of black mud on entire villages in the Philippines. The country's president declared a state of national calamity.
Typhoon Durian struck the Philippines with winds reaching 165 mph and torrential rains on Thursday, causing ash and boulders from Mayon volcano on Luzon island to swamp villages around its base  a scene Philippine Sen. Richard Gordon described Sunday as a "war zone."
Hopes of finding any survivors beneath the volcanic mud, debris and boulders had virtually vanished. Bodies were buried in mass graves to prevent them from decomposing in the tropical heat.
Gordon, who heads the Philippine National Red Cross, estimated the death toll could reach 1,000 people. "There are many unidentified bodies. There could be a lot more hidden below. Whole families may have been wiped out," he told The Associated Press by telephone.
The Red Cross has thus far recorded at least 406 deaths, with 398 others missing, based on figures provided by mayors of devastated towns in Albay province, which was worst affected by the storm. The government placed the number of dead at 324, with 302 missing and 438 injured.
The state of national calamity declared by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will allow the government to rapidly release funds needed to bolster search and rescue efforts. She was scheduled to fly for a second time to Albay province on Tuesday, her spokesman said.
All but two dozen of the deaths occurred in Albay, with 165 in the flooded town of Guinobatan in the foothills of the Mayon volcano, about 200 miles southeast of Manila.
More than 50 tons of relief goods, medicine, body bags and other aid have been flown to the province by air force C-130 cargo planes, officials said.
Australia also made an initial pledge of $780,000 in immediate humanitarian relief. Canada earlier donated $876,000, while Japan said it would send $173,000.
In Albay's battered capital of Legazpi City, residents lined up Sunday to buy drinking water, gasoline and food. Panic gripped one community due to rumors of an impending tsunami, but officials quickly reassured people that no earthquakes had occurred.
Houses along the Yawa River in Padang, about seven miles from Legazpi, were buried under 5 feet of mud, with only their rooftops protruding. Some bodies had been washed out to sea, then swept by currents to the shores of an adjacent town.
Glenn Lorica, 22, said his family's house in Albay's Daraga town was destroyed by a torrent of mud, uprooted trees, rocks and debris. Seven members of his family are missing; only he and his younger sister are known to have survived.
He said he struggled to stay afloat in the rampaging mud flow by grabbing hold of trees while being battered by rocks and other debris. He removed his clothing to avoid being entangled in floating trees.
"I told myself that if I would die, so be it," Lorica said from a hospital bed.
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Associated Press writer Jim Gomez contributed to this report from Manila.
Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared a state of national calamity Sunday in the wake of Typhoon Durian, allowing the government to more rapidly release funds needed to bolster search and rescue efforts. Relief efforts in the Philippines faced delays Sunday for survivors, as fears grew of a rising death toll in the archipelago nation from last week's storm.

Red Cross officials recorded a death toll of at least 406, with 398 others missing and another 489 as injured, based on figures provided by mayors of devastated towns in the eastern Philippines, where Durian hit with 139 mph winds and torrential rains on Thursday.

Canada pledged $870,000 and the Netherlands Red Cross pledged $53,000 to help the country deal with the aftermath of the storm that triggered massive flooding and volcanic mudslides. The United States also promised an undetermined amount of aid. 

Many provinces lost power, making communication virtually impossible. In one of the worst hit provinces, Albay, two villages were buried by volcanic mudslides and volunteers were working to recover bodies from the wreckage.

According to the Red Cross, rescue boats were used to survey the damage and take people to the 305 evacuation centers. The Red Cross estimated about 66,616 people were now homeless based upon the number of homes destroyed in the wake of Durian.

Earlier, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said 38,473 displaced people were in evacuation shelters.

===Often hit by storms===
The Philippines' location in the northwestern Pacific puts it right in the pathway of the world's top typhoon generator, according to meteorologists. Durian is the fourth devastating typhoon to strike the Philippines in the past four months, covering the Mayon volcano with so much wind and rain that ash and boulders cascaded down its slopes in walls of black mud that swamped entire villages Thursday.

Hemmed in by geography and poverty, the Philippines has tried to minimize the damage caused by the 20 or so typhoons that hit the sprawling archipelago every year. Nationwide in 2001-05, 2,892 people were killed and 909 others went missing in typhoons and other storms, which caused damage totaling US$521 million, says the National Disaster Coordinating Council.

Anthony Golez, the council's deputy chief, notes that the estimate doesn't include losses to employment and other economic opportunities, and that Filipinos should be "bombarded" with disaster information, including stories of the Indian Ocean tsunami two years ago and the February 2006 landslide in the central Philippine village of Guinsaugon that killed more than 1,000.

Senator Richard Gordon, who heads the Philippine National Red Cross, said better planning is needed. "The big problem here in our country is we don't plan our communities. It's every man for himself."