The waste dump in Payatas is Manila's main waste dump with garbage piled as high as seven stories in some places. Impoverished squatters, including many children, live in the area and pick through the dump to collect items they can sell. When part of the garbage mountain collapsed on July 11, partly weakened from a recent typhoon, garbage crashed down onto the huts and shacks below and caught fire, apparently ignited by fallen power cables and stoves in the huts. It may be hard for many…
