As our car made its way inside the red zone area of storm Tembin, I could already see huge branches of trees, heavy logs and boulders strewn around the place. I was standing in a completely destroyed area. “This used to be a steel bridge,” a local said to me. I found it hard to believe I was standing on what was once a structure that stood tall and strong.

That bridge in Salvador, Lanao Del Norte was not the only structure that was destroyed in the area. Four other bridges were flattened to the ground as a result of storm Tembin. The tropical storm swept areas in the southern island of the Philippines in Northern Mindanao. Thousands of people have been displaced and hundreds of homes crushed to the ground.

The bridge I was standing at is now thick and dense with mud. The bridge itself is now broken in the middle with steel rods protruding out of the ground and parts of palm trees scattered around. Most of the locals in the town of Salvador have independently evacuated themselves. Most of these people are the ones that have already experienced a similar incident.

The Philippines is located in a disaster-prone area. The country experiences at least 20 typhoons and storms per year but it doesn’t get better each time. Each time, the locals said, it gets even more difficult to deal with the aftermath. Houses that they have built for generations can be gone in an instant as strong flash floods wash them away. Farmers who depend on rice crops can see their fields submerged in mud in a matter of seconds.

In Salvador, most of the residents have created makeshift tents by the bridge that was destroyed. I saw locals still trying to tend to their farms by bringing in their buffalos and horses. Children were scraping the mud drawing all sorts of shapes and having a great time in the midst of this tragedy. 

Some of the locals have taken matters into their own hands and created their own versions of boats made out of cardboard and stones. They were helping their friends and families cross the river to get to the other side. I saw more than 10 people on top of one cardboard boat on their motorcycles getting from one point to the other.

As I stare there in awe of this teamwork, an elderly woman came up to me asking when the bridge would be repaired. I took a moment to answer as I knew mine would be a disappointing one. 

“It’s quite challenging without this bridge, we can manage but when will it be fixed?” the woman asked me. I can tell the uncertainty is what frustrates most of the locals, they are not sure when they can return to their homes, return to their families and their normal routines.

Disaster at any time of the year is devastating but around the holiday season, it is absolutely heartbreaking. But seeing the locals in Salvador helping each other out and coming together in times of hardship was refreshing.