Group items tagged

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.