On December 26 2016, the day after Christmas day, typhoon Nina changed course and hit the whole island of Isla Verde, leaving many of the local population homeless. We felt 3 hurricanes pass over us, one after the other.
The first two we survived without too much damage, but the last one was much worse. Lots of big trees were uprooted and some trees were brought down onto houses. Trees fell down and closed the roads. Even at the resort, where we have been careful, the storm was so strong that a tree from someone else's land outside our boundary was blown down and damaged the roof of one of our buildings.
After typhoon Nina left us, folks started to clean up the surroundings. The custom of "bayanihan" or working together, especially at a time like this, is a proud tradition and is still with Filipinos. We help each other, especeially during calamities like floods or typhoons.
Men volunteered to help by cutting the trees, and putting back the roofs on buildings and homes to provide shelter for families was maybe the most important thing after so many homes were damaged.
Roads that were blocked by trees were cleaned up. Some electrical lines supplied by generator for lights at night in the barangay were restored.
After the typhoon, and after the worst was over, you could hear stories from local people about their fear while the storm was happening, but at the end there was relief that we all survived laughter shared, prayers of thanks given and smiles on their faces.
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