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The Aeta people were the hardest hit by the eruption. The total destruction of many villages by pyroclasts and lahar deposits meant that many Aeta were unable to return to their former way of life. After the areas surrounding the volcano were declared safe to return to, those whose villages had not been destroyed moved back, but most people moved instead to government-organized resettlement areas. Conditions on these were poor, with each family receiving only small plots of land, which were not ideal for growing crops. Many Aeta found casual labor working for lowland farmers, and overall Aeta society became much more fragmented, and reliant on and integrated with lowland culture.

Forced to flee to the lowland valleys below, the Aeta learned a life far different from their mountain habitat. They shed traditional loincloths, sarongs and bare feet for Western dress and shoes, ate from canned foods donated by relief agencies and slept in cramped resettlement centers that resembled refugee camps.

In Tarukan, they have built bamboo huts and cleared fields for crops. Papaya and mango trees have been planted. Wild boar and birds are coming back and the acidity of the soil has declined, allowing farmers to resume planting.