ENTRY DESCRIPTION
In the morning of the 8 of November 2013, at 5am local time in the Philippines, the Category 5 Super typhoon Hayan (Yolanda) struck the Philippines with its winds reaching 170 mph, provoking almost 7000 casualties and around 2000 people missing. It was the deadliest typhoon recorded in the history of the Philippines, and the damage was estimated in $1.5 billion (2013 USD). During the aftermath, I boarded onto a military plane with destination to the airport of Tacloban managing to join US helicopter flights delivering relief aid, body rescue teams (land and water) and medical teams. The whole ordeal was not only one story of sheer horror but a story of beautiful human values of heroism and solidarity, and this sequence wants to honor all of those heroic and solidary Philipinnos and foreigners who went there to help despite the risk and the pain. In the beginning, the people were wandering about like zombies, without any water or food, desperate to help the wounded, or their beloved ones, Since they had no water food or shelter; they also didnt have time to mourn the dead or to search for their bodies; everything had turned into a matter of desperate survival. This extreme situation was followed by the looting of small stores and supermarkets, and since the situation was getting very dangerous, special forces were sent and a curfew was enforced. The bodies were found everywhere, many trapped into the debris and others in body bags or floating in the ocean. While delivering relief aid, some helicopters got assaulted , and the people at the most isolated areas fought violently to reach the goods. Soon after, many typhoon victims queued for days without shelter waiting for a flight to an evacuee center in Manila, becoming refugees in their own country.

AUTHOR
My name is Javier Sanchez-Monge Escardo .I was born in Madrid in 1965.Education: Degree in International business management at the Schiller International University Germany (Heidleberg), 3 years of Biology studies at the University of Alcala de Henares and a degree in Philosophy, followed by a PHD still to be finished. Several advanced photography courses, video and editing. Can speak and write in different languages. Constantly I have been travelling around the world, photographing and living in foreign cultures.

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