Typhoon Bopha (known in the Philippines as Pablo) made landfall on the island of Mindanao early on 4 December 2012 bringing heavy rain and wind gusts of up to 210 km/h (130mph). The typhoons high wind speed and flooding caused extensive damage to the housing stock and infrastructure and widespread disruption in power supply and communications. Bopha comes a year after Tropical Storm Washi (known in the Philippines as Sendong) killed more than 1, 500 people in southern Philippines.
As a result of this, the municipalities of Boston, Cateel and Baganga in Davao Oriental province and New Bataan in Compostela Valley province in Region XI as well as some parts of the southern Caraga Region (XIII) were targeted as priority areas for detailed assessment due to the level of impact there.
The humanitarian community and the Government of the Philippines have identified shelter damage from high winds, flooding and landslides in the highland areas as a critical sectoral focus. DSWD estimates that out of 46, 831 totally destroyed houses, 21, 166 (45%) are from Davao Oriental, while 25, 462 (54%) are located in Compostela Valley. Similarly, almost 92% of all partially damaged houses are estimated to come from these two provinces.