Costa brava, a coastal settlement in Tacloban, may have been tempting fate with its name. It is flanked by the open sea on one side and by a bay on the other. When a wall of water from typhoon Hai-yan hit it soon after dawn on November 8th the destruction was quick and devastating. This was one of the poorest parts of town, and the flimsy shacks and jerry-built houses offered little resistance. Costa Brava was literally flattened. One of the few remaining residents, known as Mr Butz, estimates that almost half of the people here lost their lives that morning. They had been advised to leave, but many made their own disastrous misjudgments about the severity of the storm and stayed.
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