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Death in the Philippines, under a mountain of filth
Not for the first time, a towering dumpsite collapsed in the Philippines and buried people beneath. Why can’t the country manage its waste better?
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After more than 10 days of search-and-rescue operations, 36 bodies were recovered.
PHOTO: EPA
It rose as high as a hill and smelt like a sewer.
The Binaliw landfill at Cebu City in central Philippines was a 10-storey mound of rubbish – plastic bottles, rotting food, discarded furniture – a sprawl that recalled Payatas, the infamous dumpsite-slum that once loomed over Quezon City, near the capital Manila. It was meant to keep the city’s refuse out of sight. Instead, it loomed over the community as a danger waiting to spill.
