Cagniog, Surigao City, 3 January 2023 – A little over a year ago, David Escabal, 62, remembers peering through the window of the local high-school-turned-evacuation-centre as Typhoon Rai (local name: Odette) made landfall in Surigao City in Mindanao, southern Philippines. David’s family, together with hundreds of others, hunkered down as violent winds reaching 260 kilometres per hour battered the region during the category 5 super typhoon.

“It was the strongest typhoon we ever felt. It was like we were about to be blown away because the school building was shaking so much,” David shares.

David and his family lived in the coastal neighbourhood of San Juan. Living by the sea meant he was no stranger to storms and evacuation measures. So, when the local government informed residents to evacuate to higher ground prior to Rai’s arrival, he did not expect anything extraordinary and left many of his belongings behind. Initially classified as a category 1 typhoon, Rai quickly intensified into a category 5 super typhoon within 24 hours and caught many residents off guard. After previous storm evacuations, David had always returned home. This time was different and there was nothing to return to – including his house.