On November 8, 2013, Typhoon Haiyan hit central Philippines leaving more than 10,000 people dead, affecting 16.1 million people across nine regions, and displacing around 4.1 million people.

Estancia, in the province of Iloilo, was among the cities severely affected by its destructive power.

Mabuhay School which was situated right on the coast has been, in large part, completely destroyed and all the students had to be relocated in temporary classrooms and tents few hundred meters away.

In addiction of that tremendous disaster, 10km of the Estancia coast has been contaminated by 800,000 liters of oil spill that occurred when the Power Barge ran aground at the shore during the Typhoon between the 21st and 23rd of November.

Few months later, all the biggest Organizations (UNICEF, Save the Children, UN-CERF etc) who intervened for a first response disaster relief were gone and the Filipino locals, left alone and with no funds, had to face the hardest part of the recovery program. End of march, several families were still living in UNICEF tents in an area now called Tent City. With the hot season coming is gonna be hard for these families and kids to find a cool place to rest.

Central School, which is the biggest school of the area (just over 3,000 students from kindergarten to grade VI), have been severely affected by the typhoon leaving the students without a covered location. 

The local company Privcon and the Principal Dr. Gerry J. Tingson have been working really hard to complete the school rehabilitation project. All the workers come from small villages of south Iloilo and, having left home right after the typhoon, spent months living and working inside the school. Working from 6am till late evening, playing basketball during the breaks, sleeping on the floor of one of the classrooms, these photos document some of the key moments of the daily routine.