Upon learning Typhoon Hagupit was headed for the same region of the Philippines hit by a super typhoon last year, Salt Lake resident Maricris Baniqued quickly sent money and arranged to evacuate her family from their coastal home.

In November 2013, super Typhoon Haiyan killed three of her family members and destroyed their house on Leyte, which Baniqued then helped rebuild and refurnish.

Now Hagupit has the family on edge once again.

"Every one of them was really, really scared," she said Saturday after reaching them by telephone. "They don’t want to experience the same scenario that they faced before."

Baniqued’s 49-year-old brother, Danilo, died during Haiyan when, after evacuating, he went back to check his house.

"They never found him until four days after," she said. She also lost an aunt and cousin in the storm.

But the outpouring of support from Hawaii’s community after Haiyan has helped to make improvements.

University of Hawaii urban planning professor Karl Kim was one of two UH scientists who traveled to the Philippines to survey the destruction and assess why Haiyan caused such extensive damage. Jon Matsuoka, president and CEO of the Consuelo Foundation, and television personality Emme Tomimbang, whose family is from the Visayas, traveled with them.

"It (Haiyan) destroyed vast areas of the country, which is still recovering," said Kim, who is also director of one of seven centers of the National Disaster Preparedness Consortium, funded by the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

While there, the Hawaii team shared information with scientists from the University of the Philippines on warning people in advance of such storms.

"What shocked me was why so many people died was they didn’t have a clear understanding of what a storm surge was," said Tomimbang, who produced a TV special that aired Thanksgiving on the disaster, interviewing people who lived through it. "They thought it was just heavy winds and rain," and didn’t realize 20-foot waves would "push inland, and all the shelters were overcome."

She added: "Nobody wants to say that in the Philippines. I heard that from people who lost families in the shelters."

What happened in the Philippines is a lesson for Hawaii, too.

"These events need to be seen as wake-up calls" that the region is also prone to multiple hazards — earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and typhoons, Kim said.

He said Hawaii, like the Philippines with 7,000 islands, must realize it has tremendous exposure.

Hawaii is also vulnerable because of its isolation, he said.

"We’re not connected by major superhighways," he said. "We depend on air traffic and ports. Emergency response beyond our own local capacity is days and weeks away."

Kim said Hawaii can learn from the Philippines "to invest more in resilience and preparing for disasters, how to manage the disasters, how they build community capacity to take care of themselves."

And while aid from the Hawaii community helped in the aftermath of Haiyan, "It’s important to note the experience of the storm last year has heightened awareness," Kim said. "Millions have evacuated from coastal areas (ahead of Hagupit) because of what they experienced last time."

After Haiyan, the Consuelo Foundation put up $2 million, supplementing the $1.5 million that the Filipino Community Center helped raise, as well as proceeds from the Aloha for the Philippines fundraiser, co-produced by Tomimbang and A.J. Halagao.

Matsuoka said the Consuelo Foundation’s plan was to rebuild stronger rather than quick, weak designs, since the likelihood of another strong typhoon is high, but that the foundation didn’t think another big storm would happen so soon.

But it did more than build strong concrete structures such as schools and day-care centers. It also invested in "livelihood projects" such as organic farming, small businesses and harvesting coco lumber, he said.

The foundation provided seed money in Tacloban for 70 widows of fishermen to start their own small businesses, including crafts outlets and convenience stores, Tomimbang said. The city had been devastated by Haiyan.

"They lost their husbands and now they have to take care of the whole village," she said.

Matsuoka plans to fly out Tuesday to assess what needs to be done to assist people.

After Haiyan, Baniqued, a singer with a band, participated in the Aloha for the Philippines event, and ended up doing a small fundraiser for her family, raising $3,000. Together with a loan and her own money, she sent $6,000 to help rebuild the family home.

With Hagupit bearing down, Baniqued arranged for transportation for her parents, their grandkids and daughter-in-law to her aunt’s house about 40 minutes from their house in Tanauan, which is just a block from the ocean.

She spoke Saturday to her sister, Concepcion, who lives four blocks from their parents’ home. She was told there’s no damage and that they are waiting it out.