Week One:

Leaves and water spray were blown in through the roof's ventilation holes. First, the bedroom floor and  then the bed became wet. We were forced to moved to a dry area of the living room and slept on a dry folding sofa.
The storm was raging outside from around 7 PM until about 1 AM. Then it gradually quietened down -finally returning to normal around 4 AM.

Most of the time we lay awake, listening to the roar of the sea (approximately 500 meters away), the howl of the wind and the sound of rain lashing the roof. Sometimes we could hear the sounds of small objects hitting the roof. Occasionally the sounds of breaking branches and trees as they fell  around us outside.

However, luckily, nothing fell directly on the house and the roof stayed firm. Although we were worried about the integrity of the house and the possible loss of the roof, nothing happened that was directly threatening. Apart from the discomfort caused by the damp leaves and water spray being blown in, there were no serious problems inside.

Eventually, we managed to fall asleep some time after 1 AM....

Friday 17 December 2021:

Friday Morning: The shock of the New Situation.

On waking up, we were faced with serious damage in the garden which was almost unrecognizable.

A large Teak tree had fallen onto the roof of our outside "Dirty Kitchen" but the small building seemed structurally undamaged. However. a large branch reached almost to our balcony

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Our house also appeared undamaged -but many garden paths had disappeared under the debris.
Fatima went out to feed the animals -and I helped by clearing paths down to the pens. That was when we discovered that a fallen coconut tree had  demolished part of boar Pinkie's pen.  Although he did not seem to mind. He appeared to be trying to hide underneath the debris of the fallen metal roof.

With great effort we managed to dig away the mud from the gate connecting his pen with the one next door -so we could move him into the other pen. Pinkie was unharmed -but our pregnant sow "Beans" was extremely disturbed by the storm and had a very stressed appearance.

After breakfast, Penny, our household helper reported for duty: It seems her house was slightly damaged, but not too seriously. However, all her ducks and chickens had died in their pens -either because of flooding or because they were crushed by falling debris. Later we learned that several other neighbour's animals had suffered similar fates. Our own animals were mostly free range -or had larger pens -and so seemed to have remained unscathed. In fact, our ducks and chickens seemed to profit from the effects of the typhoon -because there was a lot of debris for then to forage under and around.

A Neighbour (Anting) kindly offered to help us: His own house had been damaged by a tree falling on it -but there were also young lads there who could deal with it. He considered our situation to be more urgently in need of help. His chickens had also died in their coups. If needed, we can help people to restock.

Anting removed large branches (mostly from an oil palm) from the path between our house and our main gate. So Fatima could have feed-stuffs delivered easily by motor bike. Afterwards, he removed the tree from the roof of our outside kitchen -and (together with out helper Penny) removed damaged bits of metal roof from Pinkies pen -where the coconut tree had fallen on it. At that time he was unable;e to remove the coconut trunk,

It was also time for Fatima and I to make a start with clearing up the mess: I managed to improve the path from our gate to the road by removing the smaller debris that still made it difficult to traverse. So we could also reach the road when we needed to go out shopping.

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Penny helped Anting where needed, but also helped clear paths through the garden -because moving around the garden was still quite difficult due to the fallen debris everywhere. Fatima concentrated of cooking nutritious meals and cleaning up the house. Penny also helped clean out the the wet leaves that had been blown into the house and with putting  mattresses and blankets out to dry.

Of course, I also helped to clear up the general mess in the garden.

Saturday 18 December 2021:

The New Normal

Although Anting had removed the remains of the fallen  tree from the roof of the dirty kitchen, there was still plenty of debris lying on the ground around in the area of the pig pen with our two gilts The debris in the nearby duck pond was also forcing our ducks to swim in the fish pond -which also acts as a water reservoir for various uses. As a result, I started by clearing a path along the edge of the pig pen -so the duck pond area could also be somewhat (if not completely) cleared.

Then I continued clearing a path along the northern boundary area -down to the western boundary of our property. After that, I worked on tidying up the northern garden area. Amazingly, the "mini-greenhouses" (made of bamboo and plastic) that had been earlier broadcast with various seeds -were still intact.

Meanwhile we were still without electricity -and there was no tap water available. Our stored supply of drinking water (in a 5 Gallon container) was getting very low -so Fatima went off to Tabilaran in search of drinking water.
She was unsuccessful: The supermarkets were sold out -and the water supply stations were closed. The situation was potentially quite dangerous (if we could not find a source of drinking water soon. After the typhoon was over -the weather had become extremely hot and dry. This might be good for drying out rain lashed possessions and repairing roofs, etc... but could be fatal for people who could easily become dehydrated while working on the recovery. However, Fatima was able to buy other useful supplies, including tinned goods, sports drinks and some powdered milk (which was of little use without water). 

Without electricity, there was no refrigerator -and without that, most foods would become inedible within a very short period in our hot climate.  Nutrition (and sanitation) would soon become a serious problem without water for drinking, washing and cleaning -as well as drinking water for the animals. Fatima was also unable to charge her mobile phone. Hopefully, her tablet computer and my camera will continue to function until we can recharge them. After shopping, and a quick rest, Fatima still had the pigs, ducks and chickens to feed -before making soup to feed ourselves..

Fortunately, we still had some candles and could use them for essential light at night (it gets dark here around 6 in the evening until around 6 in the morning). However, the loss of communication with friends and family in Manila and abroad was quite devastating. Initially, Fatima could not link to the Internet via her tablet. Later the Internet connection was restored to the tablet -so limited outside communication was possible. Without electricity -both our computers were useless.

While Fatima was away, I was working in the garden on restoring order: Beheading fallen banana trees -so they would recover quickly. Several damaged banana trees had various stages of unripe fruit and we were able to recover some bunches of bananas in the hope they would ripen. Otherwise, unripe banana, decapitated banana trunks and leaves could be used as fodder for the pigs. The pigs generally seemed quite happy with their bonus offerings.

To save candles, we had an early night -there were many things waiting for us to deal with in the morning.

Sunday 19 December 2021:

Sunday Morning

The chairman of the local council came round early to make an inventory of any damage. No promises of help were offered -or asked for. Although the possibility of the council cutting up our fallen trees was mentioned. She did not stay long. I was busy working on restoring the banana trees.

Sunday Afternoon

After lunch a  tricycle driver we had tried to contact earlier but had failed, suddenly showed up to ask if we needed him. His mobile phone too had been out of action. By this time, the shortage of drinking water was threatening to become a serious problem. So, I decided it was my turn to go out in search of water. The driver lived in an area with many foreigners. Most of these would rely on 5 gallon containers of filtered water for drinking. So he was sure that he knew a place where we could refill our containers.

All our local water refilling stations were closed -and so we set off for a refilling station in Dauis, Panglao, near where he lived. Along the road there were many groups of local people waiting, with rows of empty containers, for a water tanker to come. Sometimes the containers were there unaccompanied. It was clear that the water problem was serious and widespread. Unfortunately, the proposed refilling station was closed until after Christmas -because they had too many bottles to fill.

So we went back into Tagbilaran and tried our usual supermarket. They were completely sold out of water. Luckily, on the way back we stopped at a small convenience store that still had some water bottles left. So I bought 24 half-liter bottles of water and 3 packs of long-life milk.

While I was out, Fatima had stayed at home to cook the meat remaining in the rapidly defrosting fridge -before the meat became inedible. At least we had something to eat and drink which would last for a short while.

Monday 20 December 2021:

Back To Normal

Fatima went out shopping for the next few days. She was able to buy several packs with liter bottles of water in the supermarket -as well as packets of dried milk, instant coffee and chocolate for emergencies -with more tins and other preserved products for normal use.

Considering the mess outside our property (including fallen trees and broken wires) -it was reasonable to assume that the electricity (and cold storage) would not be resumed soon. Without a good internet connection it was impossible to know what was happening in the world outside our direct environment. Not only was our situation extremely difficult (and potentially dangerous) -there was no information about just how great the problems were -or how long it would take to resolve them all.

Meanwhile I'd moved on to clearing up the area around our eastern (main) gate. More banana trees were trimmed, and a pineapple patch restored -with larger pieces of debris used to redefine the borders of garden patches -and smaller pieces of debris simply being dumped on retentively uncultivated areas -so they could eventually compost down.

Tuesday 21 December 2021:

Morning

Anting and penny managed to remove the fallen coconut tree from Pinkie's pen. They also managed to put a tarpaulin  up over most of the the damaged roof section, which they were also able to largely remove.

After I had more or less finished clearing up the area around the gate, Fatima and I put up a fence around the fish pond to keep the ducks out. It was clear that we would soon need to use the water in the pond for various purposes -and that the ducks were making it too dirty.

Anting then removed leaves and other junk from the gutter above our other water reservoir -so that the collection of rain water would be more efficient -if it rained. We also put up a protective tarpaulin to protect our gilts from the sun.

There are rumours that the local government is asking people not to repair their houses until the damage has been documented -in order to receive disaster relief funds.

Afternoon

After lunch, I cleaned up a few paths -dumping the leaves and other small debris onto areas where the resulting compost would be useful.

 I also sowed tomato, pepper and luffa seeds in pots for transplanting later.

Penny replanted an uprooted (red) banana near its original location. This has helped redefine the area, encouraging its further development later. A banana tree transplanted not long before the storm is starting to produce new leaves.

Penny has found somebody who can fill our two five gallon water bottles for twice the normal price -although this will take a day or two to complete.

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Second Week

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Country Life
Project Land
Project Home Farm

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Trevor Batten
 <trevor at tebatt dot net>
 Baclayon 2022
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