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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Jhesset O Enano

Is Shell to blame for a ‘super typhoon’? Philippines survivors to sue oil giant in legal first

People on boats display a giant banner reading: 'Shell, we're suing you for Odette'
Typhoon survivors from island communities in the Philippines have launched the first civil claim to directly link polluting companies to deaths and personal injuries in the global south. Photograph: Ivan Joeseff Guiwanon

Trixy Elle still weeps when she remembers how she and her family fought for their lives as Typhoon Rai tore across the Philippines days before Christmas four years ago. In a matter of hours, intense rain and storm surges swallowed their home on Batasan Island in Tubigon, Bohol province.

Elle, her elderly parents, brother, husband and two young children linked hands as they swam against flood waters in the dead of the night, praying to survive.

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