{"id":207648,"date":"2015-08-11T06:00:21","date_gmt":"2015-08-10T20:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=207648"},"modified":"2015-08-11T06:00:21","modified_gmt":"2015-08-10T20:00:21","slug":"a-man-runs-to-his-family-a-family-hides-in-cabinet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/a-man-runs-to-his-family-a-family-hides-in-cabinet\/","title":{"rendered":"A man runs to his family; a family hides in cabinet"},"content":{"rendered":"

While most residents hunkered down inside their homes to weather the wrath of Typhoon Soudelor, Ben Repeki was by himself outside, running to a place of safety.<\/p>\n

\"Cecil<\/a>
Cecil Canarejo points to their ruined house in Tanapag after Typhoon Soudelor hit. She said they are now looking for a new home to rebuild their lives. (Frauleine S. Villanueva)
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He could have gotten on his vehicle but, with a fallen tree already blocking the driveway, there was nothing else to do but run.<\/p>\n

As gusts of destructive winds and heavy rains battered everywhere and poles came down one by one around 10:30pm, Repeki was trying his hardest to put one foot in front of the other, the thought of seeing his family the only thing that made him press onward.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wind was strong already. I\u2019m lucky I made it because the wind was pushing me. It was hard for me to walk. But I managed to run and I\u2019m lucky I made it out,\u201d Repeki said.<\/p>\n

Prior to the typhoon\u2019s arrival, Repeki secured his family at the Tanapag Middle School shelter but, being the man of the household, he wanted to stay at their home in their village.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to secure the home\u2026I was hoping to stay at home but it got bad,\u201d Repeki said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt already that [the house] will give way so I started moving,\u201d he recounted.<\/p>\n

Repeki\u2019s wife, Maggie, was herself struggling with her own fears.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was crying. I was so in a hurry to see him,\u201d she said, a worried tone still in her voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe secured us but he stayed behind,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

If Repeki had delayed his decision to run for his life, it might have been too late.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went back there and I looked at it, and there\u2019s nothing left. Everything\u2019s scattered. My house is totally damaged,\u201d he said<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s scary. It\u2019s Mother Nature, it\u2019s scary. You have to be scared,\u201d Repeki added.<\/p>\n

A whole family hides in a cabinet<\/strong>
\nTerror was what the Laude family felt inside their home a couple of blocks away from the Repeki\u2019s.<\/p>\n

As the tornado-like winds ravaged their house made of tin and wood, they first tried to hide under their bed. Eventually, with water pouring down through the nonexistent roof, they were forced to transfer.<\/p>\n

Inside a wooden cabinet was where they found refuge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hid inside my daughter\u2019s cabinet, all four of us,\u201d Gemma Laude said.<\/p>\n

She said they stayed there all night, on bended knees until daylight came.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my 22 years here, this is the worst that I have ever experienced,\u201d Laude said.<\/p>\n

Over at the Laude\u2019s neighbor\u2019s house, the Canarejo family was struggling to survive as well. Running from one room to the next, they tried to find a dry and safe spot for them to spend the night.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really felt like someone was trying to pull our roof off by hand. That\u2019s how strong the winds were,\u201d Cecil Canarejo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been through a lot of cyclones in the Philippines but this is the worst,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

According to Canarejo, they weren\u2019t able to receive much warning about the typhoon. Yet despite everything, she said they were still very lucky.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot sleep well at night but I am still thankful to the Lord for saving us and no one got hurt,\u201d Canarejo said.<\/p>\n

These families stayed at the Tanapag Middle School and Tanapag Head Start after Soudelor hit, bringing what small things they can salvage from their homes.<\/p>\n

While some of them took photos, some wanted to wait for FEMA before they touch everything as they have nothing to document the damage, much more to rebuild.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re expecting them to come around to do their assessment but I haven\u2019t seen one of them yet,\u201d Repeki said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want them to come and see the damage,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

As for the Laudes and the Canarejos, they no longer plan to live in their old houses. They are now looking for a new place to call home\u2014a concrete one to keep their family safe from future typhoons as they all struggle to rebuild their lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While most residents hunkered down inside their homes to weather the wrath of Typhoon Soudelor,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":207649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6465,133,1785,6333],"class_list":["post-207648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-cecil-canarejo","tag-run","tag-tanapag-middle-school","tag-typhoon-soudelor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}