Cover Super Typhoon Odette crumbled Siargao in less than five hours. Photo: Camille Robiou du Pont
Super Typhoon Odette crumbled Siargao in less than five hours. Photo: Camille Robiou du Pont
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The journalist, documentary filmmaker and gender equality activist found her new home in the surfers' paradise. A year later, she lost everything she built to the storm
It has only been a year since Melo Esguerra, or Queenmelo, decided to move to Siargao driven by the unsteady pandemic situation in the city. What was supposedly a weekend getaway stretched to a month, and more. “I didn’t realise that I was already falling in love with the island and its people. I felt like living in another world,” Esguerra enthuses. The vibe is a far cry from the chaotic life in the city. “Freedom was what Siargao offered on a silver platter. I found paradise in the middle of a pandemic, or I could also say Siargao found me,” she adds.
Esguerra serendipitously found a beautiful beachfront property in General Luna that was offered to her friend. However, her friend had changed her plans and she ended up taking the property instead. She stayed there while she’s brewing plans to hold a weekly private dining experience on the island. “I was also about to create a responsible tourism destination cum community centre for the locals to learn carpentry, pottery, weaving, farming and other essential skills,” she explains. The gender equality activist was also planning to launch an Equality Festival on the island this year. But then, Typhoon Odette happened.
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I may have lost my home and everything I started building in Siargao but I never lost my will to live life to the fullest
Esguerra knew that the coming typhoon would be huge so as a precautionary measure, she secured all her belongings and had the roofs of the villas covered with plywood. Esguerra and her best friend Sebastian Gayosa evacuated a day before, staying at their friend’s house at the backroad fronting the fire station. “I got a message at around 4:30am that the wind has intensified, and I must leave the house where I was at immediately. At this point I panicked. I felt responsible for Seb since he flew in to Siargao knowing that a super typhoon was coming. In his own words he told me, ‘Let’s brave the storm together.’ Those words kept repeating in my head that it strengthened my resolve for us to survive this storm together no matter what,” she recalls.
As the day broke, they all moved to the fire station across. Most residents have flocked to the sports complex and the nearby schools as advised by the local government. “My friends decided to go back to the house we left for lunch. My instincts told me to just stay put in the fire station for the typhoon might [make] landfall anytime. True enough, the winds intensified so quickly. I could see from where I was that the coconut trees were bending. I was already in my strong element … unafraid and certain of my decisions. I knew I was in a safe place,” Esguerra narrates. However, she became frantic when she saw their friends together with some others all trapped inside the house across. “We could see metal sheets flying and the house, which was built on concrete, battered by the winds. The gazebo flew, the gate collapsed. I was scared for their lives. That’s when I started to scream ‘In Jesus name! Keep everyone trapped in that house safe!’ I was praying for everyone’s safety out loud. The sound of the wind was haunting. It was the sound of a monster about to devour anyone and anything that came its way,” she continues.
Read also: Survivors of Super Typhoon Odette Tell Their Gripping Stories from Ground Zero
Above Queenmelo Esguerra helped provide food for the locals of the calamity-stricken island. Photo courtesy of Queenmelo Esguerra
Queenmelo Esguerra helped provide food for the locals of the calamity-stricken island. Photo courtesy of Queenmelo Esguerra
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The day after the storm, she found out how much she had lost. “All I could see was destruction. That’s when I already knew that I lost my home,” Esguerra says, unable to hold her emotions anymore. “Every time I see a familiar face among the fallen trees and shattered homes, I couldn’t help but shed tears … tears of sadness and joy. I mourn the death of a paradise lost and celebrate the fact that we are all still alive and survived one of the most destructive typhoons in [Philippine] history.”
Still in an utter state of devastation, Siargao sees thousands left homeless, livelihood on full stop. “We need to keep the public aware of the current state of Siargao. The moment the stories stop, awareness of the gravity of the reality here will stop as well. And so much still needs to be done,” she appeals. Esguerra left the island four days after the typhoon and came back in January to bring construction materials and relief goods.
Esguerra is also one of the founders of Push Pinas, a non-profit organisation helping ten families in Siargao rebuild their homes and their lives. “In the first two days after the typhoon, I became part of a feeding initiative where we provided hot meals and packed goods to more than 500 people a day. This time, we focus our efforts on rebuilding homes for the homeless survivors,” she reveals. “I may have lost my home and everything I started building in Siargao but I never lost my will to live life to the fullest. My heart was broken to see Siargao destroyed to the ground. But witnessing how everyone is coming together and helping each other gives me so much hope and confidence that Siargao will rise again,” the hopeful visionary concludes.
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