NowPublic's TyphoonHunter featured in major UK newspaper

Reynolds was in Hoi An, an ancient city turned tourist-spot, when the storm hit, and found himself caught up in the hundreds seeking refuge in a local school. Fourteen people died in that small city that day, and a further 317 were injured, according to the Red Cross. Across Vietnam, Xangsane took 59 lives, injured 527, destroyed 15,100 houses and damaged 251,000 more, at a cost of £320m. Three thousand families are still in emergency accommodation.

"It was the first time I'd seen a massive evacuation," says the blond, blue-eyed 23 year-old from Gloucestershire. "Elderly Vietnamese huddled in shock and misunderstanding as rains and winds outside were peeling off the corrugated roofs of homes and health-stations. The winds sent one baby airborne - though, incredibly, it was unharmed."

My names is James Reynolds and I moved to Shanghai in September 2006 after completing my degree in Chinese at Edinburgh University in UK. My passion is covering natural disasters, especially typhoons which ravage the nations straddling the north west Pacific Ocean. My trips have already taken me to Taiwan, Okinawa and Vietnem, where I covered ty ...