Washi, dubbed "Sendong" in the Philippines, killed more than
1,200 people and left painful memories in the hardest hit areas,
Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City. The approach this week of Bopha,
a far more powerful storm than Washi, had residents fearing
fresh devastation. Local authorities took preemptive action,
relocating thousands of people to evacuation centers and setting
up emergency supplies. But in the end, northern Mindanao was
spared the worst of Bopha's fury. It was the less prepared
communities of Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental, further
south and east, that bore the brunt. An ethnically mixed area,
the Compostela Valley was inhabited by a multitude of tribes
until the 20th century, when a logging boom brought waves of
migrants from further north in the Philippines. The timber
trade, and later the mining industry, changed the geological and
demographic landscape, stripping away the forests and driving
many tribes into the hills. The valley is also known for its
rich, fertile plain, where rice, c