Sometimes Bolivia's rainy season landslides happen slowly enough to give at least a chance of escape.

This time, in some parts of the capital, La Paz, it hasn't happened that way.

Rescue teams are digging out the bodies of those buried beneath the tonnes of mud and rubble.

Survivors can only watch and wait to learn the fate of missing family members.

At least five people including one child were confirmed to have died on Friday.

Grieving relatives say some perished through sheer chance.

SOUNDBITE: Luis Alberto Aguirre, son-in-law of man killed in mudslide, saying (Spanish):

"Every hill has slipped. This happened two years ago when my garden was buried. The rains are like that every season. That's why I went to live elsewhere. Unfortunately my father-in-law only came to collect some money from his home. The rains were so bad that he wasn't able to leave La Paz. He decided then to stay and wait for his wife who was arriving in town today."

The La Paz government says almost three quarters of the city's buildings are at risk during the rainy season.

Poorer neighbourhoods clinging precariously to the city's steep canyon walls are among the more seriously endangered.

The threat to life and property isn't over yet with more heavy rain threatening to bring further destruction.

Paul Chapman, Reuters