typhoons based around here. they're gone. they're destroyed. they're basically starting from scratch. >> the local police force, a lot of them according to the mayor a lot of them didn't show up in the wake of this, obviously they had their own issues to worry about, their own families to take care of. i don't think pictures, as many different pictures as we take, it's really hard to get in that small little camera lens this kind of the scope of the devastation, even though it's not as big as a tsunami in 2004 as we saw in sri lanka. in this area though it's total. >> it's complete particularly on the waterfront area where a lot of the shanty towns are. that is absolutely flattened. the question, the real question here is, how many people actually heeded the advice of the authorities to get out, to evacuate before this hit? now i've been hearing a lot of of stories about people sending out their wives and children and then staying back at their house