By Martin Nanawa, ChildFund Philippines Rice, biscuits, canned
goods and bottled water sold briskly at the local supermarket in
Malita, Philippines, as Typhoon Bopha approached the islands in
early December. Food supplies would have to last days, possibly
weeks. This, at least, is what panic-buyers reasoned as they
crowded the store. Many families could not store much, however,
as they would need to haul all their essentials to designated
evacuation centers. But time was on their side, as authorities
had called for families to evacuate two full days before the
typhoon would strike on Dec. 4. Malita is a town in Davao
Oriental, on the eastern seaboard of Mindanao Island in the
southern Philippines. No strangers to the tempests that the
Pacific Ocean would occasionally send them, the residents of
Malita fully understood their vulnerability to typhoons, as well
as the flooding and landslides often found in their wake. A 2011
typhoon, Washi, which wreaked considerable harm, was their most
recent reminder of this