A JERSEYMAN who ‘lost everything’ in a powerful typhoon which devastated the Philippines last year has praised the impressive human resilience shown in the face of catastrophe.
Max Nicolas (32), who grew up in First Tower, was drawn to Siargao island in 2016 in search of a ‘back-to-basics’ lifestyle while seeking out new surf spots.
He set up a tour company, which has been featured in Condé Nast Traveller and Cosmopolitan, bringing tourists to less visited parts of the island to take part in traditional crafts and weaving.
However, last year his home and business on the island were destroyed and Siargao was left without running water or electricity for six months.
In December 2021, the powerful super-typhoon Rai, which was 1,000km wide, hit Siargao, with the island being right in the eye of the storm. Mr Nicolas and others helped to build emergency shelters, surveyed the damaged areas and helped to distribute rice and water across the community.
‘I lost everything, but when everyone else has lost everything you don’t have a victim mentality, you have to put your energy somewhere positive,’ he said.
He added that the shared ‘crazily intense’ experience of something so devastating had created a ‘bond on such a deep level’ with his fellow islanders.
‘It was pretty amazing to witness human resilience in such a catastrophic situation,’ he said. ‘Mothers and fathers and a lot of people were initially sleeping under leaves and collected rainwater. Sometimes it was 35 degrees and there was nowhere to hide. A lot of people were getting dehydrated and had sunstroke, but no one complained and they kept morale up.
Mr Nicolas raised between £6,000 and £7,000 to help the people of Siargao via a GoFundMe page, with the funds going towards essentials.
‘People are helping even now,’ he said. ‘We managed to rebuild 600 homes – it was emergency shelter. We had chainsaws operating for months cutting trees that had fallen. We were using them for emergency shelter.
‘Unicef did help to rebuild and dealing with malnutrition was a major issue. Initially we had no electricity, no water pumps and no way of getting water out of deep wells. There were no toilet facilities.’
Communication with the outside world was challenging, with signal towers in the area being destroyed by the typhoon.
‘I charged my phone if someone had a generator,’ Mr Nicolas said. ‘It was a 45-minute drive just to get signal at a military base. Fuel was only used for essential things.’
Mr Nicolas recently returned to Jersey and is currently working at a homeless shelter.
As part of the emergency response, he also helped to supply food and water from mainland Philippines.
‘I brought a load of food, a load of rice and water that I collected from the mainland and distributed rice and water around the worst affected where I was living. Once material arrived, we set out in teams, cut up timber and managed to empower locals to help us.’
