Recovery: above: a Bible is rescued from the debris after a mudslide near the town of Oso, north of Seattle, in the United States. At least 16 people have been killed, and as many as 176 may remain unaccounted for, after a 54-metre wall of mud hit the town on Saturday. Search crews (below) are still searching for survivors. In 1999, a report for the US army by a scientist, Daniel Miller, warned of the potential for a disaster. "I knew it would fail catastrophically in a large-magnitude event, though not when it would happen," Mr Miller told the Associated Press. "I was not surprised". On Tuesday, the President of the United States, Barack Obama, said that those responding at the scene had "acted bravely, despite still-dangerous conditions". The Revd  Lance Ousley, Canon  for stewardship and development in the Diocese of Olympia, Washington, has published a prayer asking for "courage to those who search for family, friends and neighbors, so they will not be lost in danger or despair".