THE STORM

2013
Labada Brothers

Twin brothers Elmer and Mariano Labada lived in small shacks near the coast.

The typhoon's huge waves smashed into their homes. The brothers, their wives and children were swept away.

4 of their children disappeared.

Elmer and Mariano looked for them everywhere.

As the days passed, rescue workers told the brothers to give up looking for their children.

Life would never be the same again.

2013
Pel Tecson

At Tanauan’s town hall, Mayor Pel Tecson and his wife coordinated relief efforts.

The mayor felt prepared for the typhoon, but no one anticipated the wall of water that would engulf them.

10,000 residents in Tanauan depended on Mayor Pel’s help, but supplies were limited.

PEL TECSON



“Many of them were flushed away.”

Tanauan’s town hall became a makeshift hospital.

But medicine was also in short supply.

Mayor Pel wants to stop such a tragedy from ever happening again.

Image: AP

2013
Angela Tolibas

In the aftermath of the typhoon, children were the most vulnerable.

Twelve-year-old Angela Tolibas was orphaned in the storm.

She had to loot shops and beg for aid to survive.

Angela now lives with her neighbour.

But around Tanauan, many more children are alone and homeless.

NEXT

ONE YEAR ON

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