Did Illegal Logging Contribute To This Disaster?

The disaster agency  in the Philippines said more than 338,000 people in 13 provinces were affected by the disaster, with nearly 43,000 still in schools, churches and gymnasiums.
More than 10,000 houses were damaged by the typhoon and the flash floods, of which nearly a third were ruined. Many schools, roads and bridges were also badly damaged.

Typhoon relief. (Photo: Copyright Control).

More than 15 million pesos ($340,000) worth of crops, mostly rice and corn, were damaged, but the Agriculture department said losses were minimal as the crops were in the early planting stage.
Aquino said the government can also access funds from multilateral financial institutions, including $3 million from the Asian Development Bank and about $500 million in low-interest loans from the World Bank.
Survivors said huge logs thundering down mountainsides crushed residents. Television footage showed many recovered bodies with arms or hands raised as if reaching out for help or clinging on to something.
Cagayan de Oro and Iligan were struggling to prevent disease from spreading in evacuation centres, with construction proceeding quickly of burial vaults and plots in public cemeteries to bury decomposing bodies.(C.S.Monitor).