This is just another of many tragedies around the world.
ILIGAN, Philippines (AP) — As a storm that killed more than 650 in the southern Philippines raged outside the store where she works, Amor Limbago worriedly called home to check on her parents, but their cellphones just kept ringing and later went dead.
Limbago, 21, rushed home as soon as the flash floods receded and confirmed her worst fear: Her parents and seven other relatives were gone, swept away from their hut by the river. They had eagerly planned a small Christmas dinner in that hut just days earlier. "I returned and saw that our house was completely gone," a weeping Limbago told The Associated Press from Cagayan de Oro city. "There was nothing but mud all over and knee-deep floodwaters."
Read more:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/ ... z1gu8RqLab
What disturbs me is that it might have been possible to mitigate the disaster. Building on a flood plane adjacent to a river is asking for it and I doubt that those who built their huts there fully comprehended the risk. Of course I do not know if a choice was involved, but certainly, there are other viable alternative construction methods other than building directly on the ground. How sad.
