ray of LIGHT

With its yellow ochre hues, personal touches, and exceptional Filipino service, Inara shines bright in Siargao.

- AUDREY CARPIO.

TWO DAYS AFTER THE DEVASTATING TYPHOON ODETTE (known internationally as Rai), ripped through Siargao on December 16, 2021, shattering the airport and taking down all communication lines, Natalia Zobel, who was in Manila, found a way to the island via helicopter. She couldn't reach anybody on the island and was worried about her team. "When we started coming into Siargao, all we could see were toothpicks," she recalls. "All the coconut trees were toothpicks. Then we started seeing rubble, just rubble all around." Natalia and her companions, realizing the typhoon was much, much stronger than first thought. The chopper landed in Malinao, an area 20 minutes south of General Luna, the island's main hub and home to the waves that made Siargao surf-famous. Natalia began distributing water filters and whatever food they could bring to the surrounding neighborhoods.

Inara, the boutique resort she had built and opened just four months earlier, was not spared. Despite the conditions, Natalia was able to open their doors, so to speak, by offering Wi-Fi access to anyone in the community. With the help of Next Gen, an NGO founded by young business leaders, Inara was one of three locations in Siargao with internet access, a vital channel for communicating with the rest of the world during the weeks there was no mobile signal, and almost three months without power. Mati, the photographer, recalls finding himself in the same courtyard-now restored with dozens of other desperate residents and tourists trying to send a message out.