Hundreds of thousands of Filipinos returned on Monday to homes battered by a powerful typhoon, amid relief that a massive evacuation operation appeared to have minimized fatalities.
The death toll from Typhoon Hagupit stood at 21 on Monday, after more than a million people took shelter in evacuation centers across the central belt of the archipelago over the weekend to escape the fury of the Category 3 storm.
A year ago, Category 5 "super typhoon" Haiyan tore through the central Philippines leaving more than 7,000 dead or missing. This time the authorities took no chances and evacuated whole towns and villages in coastal and landslide prone areas.