Typhoon Durian visited the Philippines in November 2006 with devastating effect. Known locally as typhoon Reming, it hit the already impoverished eastern province of Albay with ruthless abandon. Over 700 people lost their lives, but the true figure may never be known.

The death toll is significant because the victims, along with their homes, were wiped out due to landslides.

Whilst the number of typhoons which annually visit the Philippines are no more nor less than times past, the death and destruction is considerably greater. Deforestation and illegal logging are destroying the natural defences which would normally protect low lying populations from displaced mountainous soil caused by severe weather conditions.

Since 1994 one third of the Philippines has lost its rain-forest, and the rate continues at two percent per year. Without the forests to hold back naturally occurring landslides, even the smallest occurrence can develop into a disaster. Throw a typhoon into the equation and the effects are catastrophic.

Whilst the government has attempted to stem the tide of illegal and uncontrolled land development, it must also address the needs of a rapidly growing population. Space is at a premium as towns and cities expand. One man's illegal logger is a terrorist, but another is a landscape freedom fighter.

And so it was in Albay on that fateful day of November 30th 2006 that the city of Legaspi, the provincial capital, and its neighbouring villages experienced the roar and magnitude of nature's rampant power when there is nothing to stand in her path.

Albay lies in the eastern region of Bicol. It is the poorer neighbour of the more affluent province of Quezon to the north-west. Bicol however has a jewel which shines like no other. It lives, it breathes, and dominates all it surveys. It is the majestic Mount Mayon. Generally regarded as the most perfectly symmetrical volcano in the world, she stands at just over 8000ft high and is the country's most active.

She has erupted 47 times in the last 400 years. She sleeps little but dozes often, and keeps her subjects ever vigilant. Her most shattering eruption occurred on February 1st, 1814 when the village of Cagsawa was obliterated by volcanic ash. Today, only the church bell tower stands as testament of those fateful events, a monolithic gravestone guarding the bones of one thousand men, women and children who sought refuge in the church before being buried alive.

And so it was a year to the day of typhoon Reming's arrival that your writer found himself amidst the Cagsawa ruins. Standing in the shadow of one of the world's most awe-inspiring natural wonders is a most humbling experience.

On this day she was behaving rather coy. She had wrapped a gossamer veil of cumulus around her, and occasionally and mystically peered through the mist.

It's easy to fall under the spell of beauty and charisma. It is no doubt this attraction which continues to draw people to her fertile slopes - the very slopes which became their death-trap when Reming came-a-calling.

Millions of tons of volcanic ash, compounded by heavy rain, were dislodged. Boulders larger than juggernauts rolled with impunity and anger down onto the neighbouring villages. The people perished. One year on and the landscape resembles a moonscape. It is a grim grey carpet, a lahar, which envelopes all before it and will take years to reclaim.

It was not due to a volcanic eruption which caused this havoc. It was because there was nothing to prevent the landslide. Mayon is being plundered for her assets and resources.

Was this the reason she hid behind her veil on this anniversary? She has been violated and dishonoured, and for that we should all share her pain.

Learn more about this author, Bar De Ness.
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