1.   Only helicopters could reach the stranded villagers, but none was immediately available Friday.

2.   Border Patrol Police reached stranded villagers by boat and handed out blankets, food and medicine.

3.   Receding floodwaters in four provinces in the southern Philippines allowed rescuers Tuesday to distribute relief goods and save stranded villagers from rooftops and trees, officials said.

4.   Soldiers, sailors and other rescuers used boats to pick up stranded villagers from houses built on stilts.

5.   Stranded villagers took refuge in multistory cyclone and flood shelters above the swirling waters.

6.   The head of the delegation, Geoffrey Dennis, said tens of thousands of stranded villagers had been without food or medical care for more than a week.

7.   Thousands of soldiers and government workers have been sent to rescue stranded villagers and repair highways and railroads, the China Daily said.