Fifteen homes were destroyed and hundreds of residents displaced when the ground ruptured in a mountainside neighbourhood in the Philippines.

Residents were sleeping when the earth suddenly subsided in Lopez town in Quezon province at around 9 pm on December 14. They fled to the town hall as their concrete homes shook and eventually crumbled.

Footage shows rescue personnel surveying the damage to a collapsed mountainside road near homes.

Village chairman Asher Mabalatan said: 'The collapse was sudden. It started on the road, and the railway was also bent and misaligned. It has been raining for four days here. The rains and floods were intense.

'I am calling on the national government to help us here. Our homes, food, and water supply have been buried.'

Locals reported feeling the ground continuing to shake on Sunday morning, December 15, despite no tremors reported by Philippine seismological agency PHIVOLCS.

Authorities said 15 homes, a school, and a road were damaged. The area was located on the slope of a mountain.

Housewife Juvy Cabildo said: 'Many houses were destroyed. Even now we still hear the ground cracking. The homes in Purok Dos suffered the most damage. I don't know if there is water flowing under the ground or what. There wasn't any rain or earthquake when it happened.'

The provincial disaster office said it has co-ordinated with the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) to investigate the cause.

Dr. Melchor Avenilla, head of the Quezon Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, said: 'We are trying to figure out the cause. We are co-ordinating with the MGB to conduct a deeper study. They are organising a team to be deployed here.'

Officials said there were 35 families still staying at the relief shelter. They were awaiting approval from the MGB to return to their homes.

State weather agency PAGASA last week had forecasted rains to fall in several provinces, including Quezon, due to the northeast monsoon.