As many as 11 million people have been affected by the tragedy and, thousands lost their lives.
Tim Harding and his wife Choma Marie, from Sunderland, witnessed the devastation in the city of Tacloban, and neighbouring coastal villages, first hand.
The panicked couple, who have family in the Philippines, flew out when they heard warnings a typhoon was about to hit.
Tim, 42, says: “We were so worried when we heard there was going to be a typhoon. Choma’s mother lives in Manila and she has lots of family scattered around the Philippines, so we wanted to check they were all OK.
I’ve also got friends over there, because I worked there 20 years ago – that’s when I met Choma. Thankfully, none of our friends or family were hurt.”
But, after checking on their loved ones, the kind-hearted couple decided to stay on to help other victims.
Tim says: “We packed up tinned food and clean water to send across to the worst hit areas. We only had six hours sleep in the first 10 days – we’re running on adrenaline and we’ve seen so many awful things, it’s hard to rest.
But everyone is pulling together – rich and poor, even children are here bagging supplies. We just want to help.”
The storm hit the south-east Asian country on Friday 8 November, with ground winds of up to 235mph. Huge waves, as high as 19ft, surged through the southern towns, creating a tsunami effect, which flattened buildings and destroyed homes.
Makeshift mortuaries were set up in remaining buildings and survivors were forced to scavenge for food to survive.
Tim, an incident manager, described the scenes he witnessed in Sumar and Tacloban, after the typhoon hit.
He says: “The scale of the destruction was cataclysmic. There were mass graves being dug at the side of roads, bodies decomposing underneath cars and debris everywhere.
The smell was horrendous and some of the scenes were unbearable. You cannot imagine the devastation.”
As news of the catastrophe broke, more than £1.5m was donated to the Disasters Emergency Committee by the British public, and 12 surgeons and paramedics were sent from the UK to the Philippines to help the injured.
The plight of survivors touched many people’s hearts. Celebrities have pledged to support the Disasters Emergency Committee and the X Factor donated money from voting to help those affected by the typhoon.
But for many families, it will be a long time until they can rebuild their lives. Tim is planning on staying in the Philippines until the end of November to help as much as he can.
He adds: “I want to stay here and do what I can, before I have to head back for work. I’ll be torn when I leave because I know how hard it’s going to be for people here to rebuild their lives.
But it’s amazing how people have faced this tragedy together. Everyone is helping, irrelevant of race, income or religion. The people of the Philippines are strong – they will get through this.”
To donate to the Disasters Emergency Committee, visit: www.dec.org.uk, or call 0370 6060 900 or text SUPPORT to 700000 to make a £5 donation