MANILA, Feb. 17 (AP) The farming village of Guinsaugon is gone, swallowed by a wall of mud and boulders that swept down Friday with terrifying speed in the eastern Philippines. Officials feared the death toll could pass 1,500.

"There are no signs of life, no rooftops, no nothing," said the governor of Southern Leyte Province, Rosette Y. Lerias.

The village, once a community of 2,500 people, now looks like 100 acres of plowed land. Its 375 homes and the elementary school were buried under mud up to 30 feet deep. Only a few small piles of debris hint at the devastation. Only a few jumbles of corrugated steel sheeting show that Guinsaugon ever existed.

The official death toll stood at 23 when darkness halted rescue efforts, hours after the morning landslide. But the Philippine Red Cross estimated at least 200 dead and 1,500 missing.

Only 53 survivors were plucked from the morass, on Leyte island, 420 miles southeast of Manila.

"Our village is gone, everything was buried in mud," said Eugene Pilo, a survivor who lost his family. "All the people are gone."

Dario Libatan, who lost his wife and three children, said: "It sounded like the mountain exploded, and the whole thing crumbled. I could not see any house standing anymore."

Rescue workers were hampered by the thick, soft mud, which remained unstable, and by flash floods spawned by two weeks of downpours that have dumped 27 inches of rain on the area. The governor asked people to dig by hand, saying the mud was too soft for heavy equipment.

"I have a glimmer of hope, based on the rule of thumb, within 24 hours you can still find survivors," Governor Lerias said. "After that you move on to the recovery phase, but right now it"s still rescue mode."

A second, minor landslide added to volunteers" nervousness, and a helicopter pilot said the ground near the top of the mountain was still moving in late afternoon. "You could see a patch of green, then mud where it was," said the pilot, Leo Dimaala. He estimated that half the mountain had collapsed.

Education officials said 250 students and teachers were believed to have been at the elementary school. Only one girl and a woman were rescued nearby.

Two other villages were also affected, and about 3,000 evacuees huddled at a municipal hall.

"We did not find injured people," said Ricky Estela, a crewman on a helicopter that flew to the scene. "Most of them are dead and beneath the mud."

Aerial television film showed a wide swath of mud alongside stretches of green rice paddies at the foothills of the scarred mountain.

Survivors and others blamed illegal logging for contributing to the disaster; similar landslides in 2004 and 2003 were linked to such logging.

A small earthquake also shook the area, but scientists said it was probably unrelated.

The Philippine Red Cross had 14 people on the scene dealing with rescue efforts and the recovery of bodies. More staff members and trained volunteers were being sent to the region, along with dog rescue teams.

A relief plane was flying from Manila carrying 1,000 body bags, emergency trauma kits to help 1,000 people, rubber boots, ropes, clothing, flashlights and medicine.

In Geneva, the International Red Cross appealed for $1.5 million to buy shelter materials and health and cooking items.

A Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Brian Maka, said that in response to a Philippine government request, the United States military was dispatching the amphibious assault ship Essex and the landing ship Harper"s Ferry, and possibly other ships. to provide medical assistance and other aid. He said Army and Marine Corps ground forces in the Philippines were also available.