Ten days after super typhoon Haiyan, I visited the islands in northwestern Palawan which were the last to be hit as the storm exited the Philippines. Calumboyan, Magalambay, Galoc, Binudac and Bulwang are fishing communities, home to thousands of people who found themselves in the direct path of the strongest typhoon in human history.
Locals recounted how the storm began at around 8pm on November 8. The noise was deafening as roofs tore off, trees broke and waves crashed on the rising shoreline. Parents tried to comfort their terrified children. After roughly an hour, it grew calm as the quiet eye of the storm passed overhead. There were no stars or moonlight, the sky was dark. Then the wind returned from the opposite direction. A storm surge coincided with high tide bringing water levels above many houses.
At midnight the wind subsided and people sheltering in schools and churches crept out to look for others and survey the damage. Many found their homes and boats destroyed or washed out to sea. “Fifteen houses once stood here,” recounted fisherman Hugo Lamazares, surveying the shoreline of Galoc village. “All their possessions were inside their homes and when the typhoon hit, they were not able to get anything. The storm was so strong.”