We heard on the radio that there is a typhoon coming. The chief on our island, he announced that everybody going to prepare for the storm. “There’s a big storm coming, super typhoon is coming, so everybody prepare for that.” That’s the time I heard it, so I went to my house and start preparing for the disaster.

We secured our house. We secured the windows, the doors and everything that can, I mean the roofs to make sure that it’s not going to fly away. It might hurt somebody or … So, all the kids in the same house, that’s stronger than the [other homes].

Three days before that, they warn us, so we have to prepare before then. During the typhoon I went to my sisters house. Me, and my wife and my kids. We went to my sister’s house, and we were there that night that it came. Then all the sudden, boom, the roof’s falling, big rain.

So we’ve been standing all night, ’til the morning holding the kids, they’d been crying. Just standing there all night until the time. Then, the time that we went to walk around this time, walking around. The roof’s gone. It’s been raining all night.

Plus me and my sister and my wife with the kids, we’re going to just grab them but the night came, it’s night time and the lights, not going to make it.

I tried to think about the lights, I just made up my mind, it’s better to stay here instead of going out at this time, and something happen to us. So I made up my made to stay, better in the house. So we stay, then we’re safe.

Outside, it’s loud. The trees, tin roofs, flying all around. She’s scared. We didn’t move. Just grabbed the baby, and … I don’t know what (laughs). She kept crying all night. They’re scared, we’re scared.

I don’t know to get out. It was like one of the US fighters picked up a big bomb and buried it (laughs). We can’t walk, so we had to make, to clean around, move a bunch of trees and roofs so we can go house to house. Even the main road, you cannot go to the main road. You cannot walk around.

After the typhoon, then the family gathered together so they would know what we’re going to do to clean up the island. Make paths for people to walk around, see everybody is okay.

It’s right after that, two days, three days after, then all the men gathered together and our Chief to see what to do for the, to cleanup the roads and …

We had just a month of food left, without the relief that we bring. I don’t know what we’re going to eat. We could go fishing, so we just brought the fish and some of the rice that we have, we still go fishing. The reefs, they’re damaged so, we went on it.

[Right after] We don’t allow to go fishing. We have to do the community walk first, and with the Chiefs. We go, “Hey, we’re going to go fishing.” We’re not going to go fish for ourselves. We’re going to go fish for the community, so everybody’s going to have something.

Actually, it’s not like before. It’s like, damaged, damaged on the reef. It’s like, plain. I still can see now, before it’s good, now gone. Now it’s dark and black again. After the typhoon, it’s like milky.

I think now it’s … bring people together after the storm. Before, before this typhoon, like each one of us and our family, whatever they do. But after this typhoon, like bring everybody together.