The Philippines is known for its hospitality, even to typhoons.

The country is infamous, among other things, for being the most-exposed large country in the world to tropical cyclones, which has affected even the settlement patterns in its islands.

Last year, the Philippines played host to Typhoon Melor, locally known as Nona, which arrived in the country days before Christmas holidays, bringing with it maximum sustained winds of about 145mph at its peak. The strong winds affected a comparatively small area, but the heavy rainfall caused power supply to be cut off in large areas in a large part of the central Philippines.

Among the areas affected badly was Northern Samar, where Typhoon Nona devastated almost 90 percent of the province and left about 65,000 families homeless and in need of food, water, and basic commodities, among other things.