TACLOBAN, Philippines ¨C Social worker Carmela Bastes had dedicated years of her career to helping catch sex traffickers and supporting their victims in the Filipino city of Tacloban. Then, a decade ago, Typhoon Haiyan struck.
Haiyan, which killed more than 6,000 people and displaced millions in the Philippines, triggered a humanitarian crisis that provided fertile ground for traffickers in the hard-hit Eastern Visayas region.
Besides making more women and girls vulnerable to sexual exploitation, the 2013 typhoon ¡ª known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Yolanda ¡ª wreaked havoc on law enforcement efforts against the traffickers.
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