On 8 November 2013, Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in the Philippines with sustained winds of 195mph and a storm surge of nearly 20 feet. Known locally as Yolanda, it was one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded. More than 6,000 people were killed, 4.1 million displaced, and over a million homes either partially or completely destroyed. Thirty-three million coconut trees — a primary source of livelihoods across the affected regions — were wiped out. The scale of the destruction was almost incomprehensible.
The world’s media arrived in force. For weeks, Typhoon Haiyan was the story, with the images of flattened towns, overwhelmed hospitals, and desperate survivors were broadcast around the world. Then, as they always do, the cameras moved on to the next story.
Two months later, Scottish filmmaker and photographer Misha Somerville traveled to the Philippines to find out what had been left behind. Around 100,000 people were still living in evacuation centres as of early January 2014, awaiting longer-term support from the government and international donors. In the rural areas outside the main affected cities, communities had received limited support and were largely rebuilding on their own terms — with whatever materials they could find, and whatever strength they had left.
Stronger Than Yolanda is a photo documentary that moves quietly through this recovery. It does not sensationalise the destruction or dwell on the scale of the catastrophe. Instead it finds the human detail — the resilience, the resourcefulness, and the quiet determination of people piecing their lives back together long after the rest of the world stopped watching.
