On December 4, 2012, Bopha, a Category 5 typhoon nicknamed “Pablo,” struck the Philippines. Rushing flood waters destroyed entire villages and killed over one thousand people, in what was the strongest typhoon ever to strike the Southeast Asian islands.
"Entire families may have been washed away," said the interior secretary, Mar Roxas.
The hardest hit areas, the Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental provinces, the heavy rainfall triggered landslides and floods. Floods destroyed farming and mining towns all along the coast, flattening banana plantations and completely destroying some citizens’ livelihoods. Some towns were left completely decimated—muddy heaps of collapsed houses. CNN reported that the iron roofs of some buildings were swept away by the 175 mph winds like "flying machetes." Over 200,000 people were stranded after the storm, unable to get anywhere due to the landslides and rising waters.
