TACLOBAN CITY- The Sweden-based Scandinavian Children’s Mission expressed its intention to provide assistance to the victims of a landslide in Barangay Guinsaugon, St. Bernard, Southern Leyte.

Toby Wallenberg, consultant of the mission, said that the victims of the landslide need all the assistance that they could possibly have, either from the government or private sectors.

He said that their mission, which has an office in San Juan, Manila, have already coordinated with the Department of Social Welfare and Development to help them identify what form of assistance the victims immediately need.

Wallenberg said that based on the assessment of the DSWD regional office, the victims needs education, housing and livelihood assistance for them to start rebuilding their lives after being hit by a tragedy Feb. 17.

“What we intend is to help the victims through long-term projects,” he told Leyte Samar Daily Express.

He said that once the local government of St. Bernard identifies the relocation site and approves their proposal to build housing unit for the victims of the landslide incident in Guinsaugon, they would at once start the construction.

“They have to do it fast and the mission will construct the houses for the survivors,” Wallenberg said.

Over 400 of the residents of Guinsaugon survived the tragedy and are now temporarily sheltered at Christo Rey Regional School. Also, more than 3,000 persons, residents of villages located near Guinsaugon, were also dislocated due to the incident.

Multi-national rescue groups that went to the village in an effort to find survivors retrieved at least 139 dead bodies. The government officially called off the search and rescue operations last Friday night.

Wallenberg said that with the help of their Swedish government, mainly in providing financial assistance, their group would immediately start on providing the two immediate needs of the survivors of the landslide in Guinsaugon.

The mission of Wallenberg was responsible in the construction of the SOS Children Village located in Tigbao-Diit, this city. The group was also one the international groups which helped victims of the Ormoc City flashfloods incident which killed over 3,000 people.