. >>> this mud slide was caused by the intensive rains that have devastated gauuatemalaan territy afterlmost 12 weeks of extreme drought. our rescue teams are searching for survivors. there are more than 616 rescue workers with invaluable and exemplary support from citizens. >> the latest from david mercer who is there. difficulties for the rescuers. what are you seeing there? >> reporter: that's right. there is certainly no shortage of hands here on the ground and there are hundreds of people if not thousands of people who are here helping out from volunteer fire fighters to military to police and, also, many, many, many people from guatemala city have volunteered to help out and from as far away as three hours a away, i spoke to a man boxed in to try -- bussed in to try to help with the effort. the task is daunting. where i am standing right now, there is 45 meters of rock and mud under my feet. that's between the houses that are buried down below. many of the houses here in the ravine were very basic. they weren't made out of concrete but tin and wood. so with all of this rock piled