Posted on 02/08/2017 4:37:02 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
As many as 15,000 people are homeless after a huge fire engulfed an overcrowded slum in Manila, destroying thousands of homes and sending residents fleeing with their few possessions.
The inferno started in a sprawling slum near the port late Tuesday and raged for about 10 hours, as hundreds of firefighters from across the Philippine capital hauled their hoses across rickety, tin roofs to reach the flames.
As the blaze whipped across the squalid area, sending a huge plume of smoke billowing into the night sky, residents ran for their lives carrying refrigerators, religious icons and other valuables.
Others, desperate to save their homes, used buckets of water to douse the fire.
About 3,200 homes, many made from little more than scrap wood, were destroyed and four people were injured, Edilberto Cruz, a fire investigator looking into the cause of blaze, told reporters Wednesday....
(Excerpt) Read more at sg.news.yahoo.com ...
Prayers for those folks.
I’ve been in these Manila slums before. Until you actually see people living in such squalor, you can’t quite comprehend it. These are nothing more than shacks. Praying for the people who lost their homes.
Amen to that very sad indeed
My wife's brother-in-law is Philippino-American, and once in a while travels there to see relatives. Every time he goes, he gives all his clothes away. Says they're so poor they can't afford clothes, and he feels bad because he makes a lot of money as an American.
Probably illegal squatters, and the guy who owned the property wanted them cleared. One clue is that no one died. Usually arsonists are careful, but natural fires often kill people.
Our town’s open air market mysteriously burned down a couple years ago when the crooked mayor wanted to rebuild it. No one killed, thank the Lord, but a neighbor lost all her supplies in her kiosk.
I spent 2 weeks in those slums about 3 years ago. I wandered then when a big fire would happen.. and there it is.
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