Field record
- Where
- Cebu Province, the Philippines (Talisay and other coastal areas)
- When
- One week in early November 2025
- What
- Floods and collapsed buildings caused by Typhoon No. 25, Tino (international name Kalmaegi)
- My role
- Documentation for an international NGO's medical support team (left on my second day on the job)
Key points
- On November 4, 2025, Typhoon No. 25, Tino (international name Kalmaegi), struck Cebu, the Philippines. 232 people died, 150 of them in Cebu. More than five million people were affected (NDRRMC).
- On my second day at an international NGO, I went there to document the medical support team.
- We visited coastal evacuation centers short of medicine. In Talisay, the day after we provided medicines, more than 180 people received health checks.
First published 2025.11.11 (Instagram) / Updated
Cebu sits in the Visayas, in the central Philippines. It is a tourist island surrounded by beautiful seas. But it also lies on the path of many typhoons. On November 4, 2025, Typhoon No. 25, Tino (international name Kalmaegi), hit the island directly. Record rainfall made rivers overflow, and many houses collapsed.
According to the national disaster agency (NDRRMC), 232 people died, 150 of them in Cebu. In the end, more than five million people were affected.
My second day on the job, to the airport
My second day at an international NGO. I was working in the office when, suddenly, I was asked to go. That same day, I headed to the airport with my camera. Strangely, I had never imagined I would return to my homeland like this. Filipino blood runs in me.
In evacuation centers short of medicine
Going around the coastal evacuation centers, we recorded the medical work and the voices of the people affected. Many centers were short of medicine, and doctors and nurses kept working hard with limited resources.
In Talisay, I met a nurse who is also the head of the barangay (district). We provided medicines for the clinic. The next day, a health check was held, and more than 180 people, from children to adults, were able to see a doctor.
Visiting house by house
In the area worst hit by the typhoon, I visited homes one by one with a doctor I met there, to examine the children. Medicine was so scarce that the day before, we drove around to every drugstore we could find to get supplies.
This week, I have felt the meaning
of why I was “made” this way.
Normally, there would be proper days off. But an emergency is irregular, and my body and mind were at their limit. Even so, it is not just my own small strength. Right now, the joy of moving as part of a team feels bigger. A strangely strong sense of balance, a mysterious supply of stamina. And blessed with kind people who look out for the things I forget.
On my first emergency mission, there was much I fell short on and much to reflect on. But without using “I've only just started” as an excuse, I want to face the field as a film professional. I want to keep learning, and give it everything.
Narita Jun
Filmmaker and video journalist, born in Nagoya in 1993. As staff of an international NGO, he works in disaster response and humanitarian aid while making documentaries about people, wildlife and the earth. Green Film Festival 2024 Grand Prize.
Sources: Inquirer, “Tino causes 232 deaths” (NDRRMC figures), World Bank press release (November 28, 2025)
This article is based on Instagram posts from November 11, 2025 (1 · 2), rewritten as an article.