The disaster caused estimated damages of USD $1.79 to $3.5 billion. The death toll was considered to be between 10,000 and 30,000—the exact number of casualties is difficult to determine as there was no reliable census data, especially about shanty towns and small communities that were completely wiped out; moreover, only some 1,000 bodies were recovered, with the rest swept to sea by the mud or buried in the landslides. More than 8,000 homes and 700 apartment buildings were destroyed in Vargas displacing up to 75,000 people.