Safety, need compete in typhoon-hit Philippines

Published December 7, 2012 1:49am ET



NEW BATAAN, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine government’s geological hazard maps show why this farming community was largely washed away by a strong typhoon: “highly susceptible to flooding and landslides.” That didn’t stop some villagers from rebuilding even with bodies still lying under the mud.

Most of the about 420 people confirmed dead from Typhoon Bopha were killed in the steep valley that includes New Bataan, a town crisscrossed by rivers and cleared from lush hillsides by banana, coconut, cocoa and mango farmers in 1968. Flooding was so widespread here that places people thought were safe, including two emergency shelters, became among the deadliest.

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