Village for typhoon survivors now one of deadliest sites in Cebu quake

The village was meant to be a place of safety: 200 “disasterresilient homes” for survivors of a devastating 2013 typhoon, paid for by a charity and built to withstand ferocious winds.

- Aie Balagtas See and Jason Gutierrez

But now it is one of the deadliest sites in another natural disaster, a 6.9-magnitude earthquake late on Sept 30 centred on Cebu province in the Philippines.

By Oct 1, 69 deaths had been confirmed as rescue workers dug through rubble, searching for dozens of people who were still missing.

Mr Wilson Ramos, an emergency worker with a local response unit, said the quake had killed at least 10 people in the SM Cares Village, established just over a decade ago for survivors of Super Ty-

phoon Haiyan, which killed more than 6,000 people in the Philippines.

“This area was built to safeguard storm survivors and people from high-risk zones,” Mr Ramos said. “I cannot yet say whether those who died were also Haiyan survivors; more than 10 years have passed. But this village was intended to give them a new home.”

The quake was the deadliest in the Philippines since 2013.