Rescue efforts have resumed for 11 people missing after a huge hillside collapsed on a town in Mexico as a landslide in a neighbouring state killed 12 people.
The government delivered blankets and other supplies to survivors and others who fled their unstable homes for fear of more mudslides in Santa Maria de Tlahuitoltepec. Many sheltered under makeshift tents on the hills.
The landslide in the rain-soaked southern state of Oaxaca early on Tuesday caused nationwide alarm after local authorities initially said hundreds could be dead in the remote town, which had been blocked off by slides and a washed-out bridge. But hours later, when rescue workers finally reached the community, only 11 people were missing and none confirmed dead.
Heavy rains are hitting much of Mexico's south. In neighbouring Chiapas state, at least 12 people were killed on Wednesday by a landslide in Amatan.
"Unfortunately there has been a new landslide in Amatan, Chiapas. We are mobilising aid to help. The governor informed me of 12 deaths," President Felipe Calderon said by Twitter.
The chief of the Chiapas state civil protection emergency response agency, Salvador Cervantes, said the victims were buried when earth slid down a hill on to their homes.
In the Oaxaca slide, rains and unstable soil forced police and firefighters to suspend the rescue efforts for hours. The search resumed with picks, shovels and a bulldozer in the river of mud and stones that swept down the hillside.
Among the missing were the town's chief health officer, his pregnant wife and their two teenage daughters, mayor Antonio Martinez said.
The area was battered by the remnants of a hurricane one week and a tropical storm the next.
Oaxaca governor Ulises Ruiz initially told a Mexico City television station he had received reports that 300 homes were buried, with as many as 1,000 people inside. But the estimates of casualties were gradually lowered during the day and yesterday the governor confirmed that only 11 people were missing. Mr Martinez said 10 houses were buried.
