Many homeless after Manila slum fire
MANILA, Philippines (Reuters) -- A fire destroys a slum neighborhood in Manila on Wednesday, leaving around a hundred families homeless.
No one was seriously injured, but hundreds of people have been made homeless.
Some were able to salvage a few belongings, but many lost everything.
One resident said fires were so common that she and other residents had formed a brigade to give each other alerts.
“When I saw the fire, I hurried out of my house and knocked on the door, and told the family "There's a fire, there's a fire!", and they woke up," says fire victim Amalia Labo.
Fires often rip through Manila's slum areas, where shanties made of light materials are densely packed together.
It's believed the fire was started by a candle in a shanty house, but investigators are not ruling out arson.
Nearly four million people live in overpopulated slums in the Philippines capital.
- Latest
