Philippines' post-typhoon rebuilding to take five years

 Terra Daily via AFP: Rebuilding areas devastated by a super typhoon that killed thousands in the Philippines will take up to five years and cost more than two billion dollars, officials said Saturday. The comments came as the death toll from Haiyan, one of the most powerful typhoons to ever hit the country, continued to rise.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said 5,632 people had been confirmed dead while 1,759 were still missing following the category five storm earlier this month. "The total rehabilitation will take three to five years, depending on the pace of our support system and the projects we implement," Eduardo del Rosario, executive director of the NDRRMC, said.

He told reporters that President Benigno Aquino did not want to merely repair the damage but wants the new structures to be better than those that were standing before the storm. "Our president wants the rehabilitation to be 'build-back better communities," so they can withstand future storms," del Rosario said....