Hundreds of children used to fill the rooms in Cupang elementary school. But now, the school is an emergency shelter housing 504 families, including 300 children – many of whom used to attend classes in the very rooms they are sleeping in.

While floodwaters caused by Typhoon Ketsana are receding from some areas, many communities in the Metro Manila region remain submerged and isolated.

The country’s National Disaster Coordinating Council estimates that some 4 million children and adults were affected by flooding, with some 420,000 staying in temporary government shelters such as this one.