MANILA — A landslide struck a village in the central Philippines on Thursday, burying up to 25 homes and killing at least 12 people. Officials said heavy rains in the days since Typhoon Mangkhut hit the country had contributed to the disaster.

People living at the village in Naga, a small city in Cebu Province, had evacuated before the powerful typhoon arrived on Saturday. But they returned home after the storm largely spared Cebu and other central islands, Superintendent Samuel Tadeo of the Philippine Bureau of Fire Protection said.

Heavy rains over the past two days apparently saturated the soil of a slope above the cluster of houses, causing it to give way, Mr. Tadeo told a Manila radio station, DZBB. “It has been raining heavily here,” he said. “More than 20 to 25 houses have been buried.”

Rescue teams were trying to reach potential victims, but the work was “very dangerous,” Mr. Tadeo said. “We have requested heavy equipment like a backhoe, so we can penetrate further,” he said.