“Every house was destroyed,” Jennifer says of the
surrounding community of homes that, like her own, have
been built using mostly recycled materials, such as thin sheets
of discarded wood and plastic, canvas, and sheets of corrugated
tin, with bald tires weighing down the rickety roofs covered
with tarpaulin.
With Yolanda whipping up winds at one-minute sustained
speeds of over 300 kilometres per hour, their rickety shacks could
not keep them safe. Still, as their homes are near the port, they
were some of the luckier ones in accessing sanctuary. “When [the
typhoon] happens,” Jennifer continues, “we have to sleep in the
the shipping containers. We all have to sleep in there, but there
isn’t space for everyone.”
Both families, along with many others in the community,
lost their homes to Yolanda. It takes a single day to rebuild the
structures, something they’ve done time and again over the years.
right Raniel, Nilo and Jerone
prepare to scavenge plastic
in the river near their home
at the Capulong Bridge in
Tondo, ManilabelOw right The boys make
their way to the recycling
centre to exchange their
plastic collection for money
belOw left A boy is pictured
in one of the corridors of
Happyland, where most of
the city’s rubbish ends up