Nestor pointed at a 15-foot coconut tree standing by the seashore. Its leaves have fallen off and the trunk shows chipping and cuts from children trying to reach for a fruit. “Mas mataas pa dyan ‘yung alon” (The waves are higher than that tree), he recalled.

The tree reminded him of November 8, 2013 when super typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) struck the islands of Visayas leaving their little town of San Jose, Tacloban in shambles. The calamity claimed over six thousand lives, displaced more than four million residents and affected 14 million people.

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