As I write this the deathtoll is quite uncertain. BBC says 90 confirmed dead but that it may get as high as 1,000. An entire town swallowed up by a landslide.
I was browsing around the blogosphere for Philippine blogs and first hand testimony from the area, but oddly enough I couldn’t find much. The Asiapundit’s blog provided a good gateway to find Torn and Frayed in Manila. In a recent post addressing natural disasters and how the nation handles them, Torn and Frayed writes:
Where the Philippines and many other countries perform badly is in taking precautions before emergencies occur. Why are families living on Mayon in the first place? Or Guinsaugon? Presumably we will find out some of the answers to the Leyte tragedy in the next few days. Since the area had experienced more rainfall than for at any other time in the last 30 years —(read on)
My only other comment on this tragedy, for now, is that while watching the BBC news coverage I saw the US aircraft carrier and the Marines that were dispatched to help in the relief effort. All I kept thinking was — this is what the military should be used for, this is the kind of military initiative I support.