Typhoon Durian’s Path of Death and Destruction in the Philippines
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Assessment: When Typhoon Durian made landfall over Albay province last week, its wake of deadly landslides immediately magnified the Philippine’s need to effect a comprehensive disaster response and management plan for the calamity-prone area. Normally handled as a lower-tier priority within the local and national government’s agenda, criticism quickly surfaced revealing the government’s ineffectiveness in planning prior to the catastrophe, especially near the slopes of the active Mayon volcano. International relief has been fairly swift and should help to alleviate some of the province’s immediate efforts in dealing with the survivors, many of whom face uncertainty in temporary shelters after their entire villages were destroyed by the landslides. Businesses and telephone lines are slowly reopening, but reconstruction and rehabilitation in the area could take years considering that a major portion of the province’s government and public works staff were directly affected by the disaster.