Four Siargao-based personalities share how the island of Siargao was shattered by the category 5 storm, as well as how they are rebuilding their lives after the catastrophe
Crashing waves, pristine beaches, cerulean tidal pools, breathtaking lagoons, a free-and-easy vibe and surfers from all over the world—these are the images that come to mind when one thinks of Siargao. It has been voted as the best island in Asia by Condé Nast Traveler in 2021 and has become a safe haven for numerous souls who have come to love the laid-back, friendly and idyllic lifestyle the island brings.
But on December 16, 2021, all that changed. Super Typhoon Odette (international name “Rai”) made landfall over this teardrop-shaped paradise off the coast of Surigao del Norte and ripped the island to pieces. With winds gusting as strong as 270 kilometres per hour, the island crumbled like a piece of paper in less than five hours. As the Category 5 typhoon made several landfall across the Visayas and Mindanao, it left several provinces barely breathing with 405 casualties, 8 million people affected, 1.4 million houses destroyed and PhP13.3 billion worth of agricultural damage. In Siargao alone, about 50,000 families were displaced. Just when tourism on the island is slowly recovering from the loss brought about by the pandemic, more than 5,000 tourism workers became jobless again as the tourist spots and infrastructures were wiped out. The iconic Cloud 9 boardwalk—gone. Naked Island’s powdery sandbar—washed away. Siargao airport and the newly inaugurated sports complex—total wreck. Decades-old resorts, new cafés and bars, towering coconut trees, commercial centres, everything—nothing was spared.
Calling Siargao their home for years, four survivors share their firsthand stories of survival and how the spirit of bayanihan keeps them inspired to this day as they gear towards recovery.
Read also: Lend a Helping Hand to Victims of Odette PH: Here's a Rundown of Donation Drives
Christophe Bariou, Co-founder of Maison Bukana
Filipino businessman and surfer Christophe Bariou, or Chris to many, has put his heart and soul into building his life project: the exclusive fully serviced villa, Maison Bukana, in Barangay Malinao. True to its name, the luxurious four-bedroom haven lies just where the scenic river and the majestic ocean meet, on a property acquired by the Bariou family in the Eighties when there was practically nothing built on the island save for a few houses. At that time, surfing was not as popular yet. “Surfing in Siargao started in the Nineties when the famous surf photographer John Callahan came and published about it in a magazine,” Bariou explains. This private villa would later on become one of the surviving structures post-Typhoon Odette.
