Galiwinku woman Yvonne Gananbarr has been sleeping on the floor of a school hall since Cyclone Lam made her asbestos-riddled public housing property unliveable.
But Ms Gananbarr is still getting up a sunrise every morning to help others affected by the category four cyclone in her remote Northern Territory community.
“I’ve been going to work and waking up at 6:00am, have a shower, and then go to work at 7:00am,” she said.
Cyclone Lam moved over the Arnhem Land coast early last Friday morning, bringing wind gusts of up to 230kph to the community of about 2,000 people.
A week later, Galiwinku continues to bear the physical brunt of Cyclone Lam, with almost 250 residents displaced and hundreds of houses damaged.
Many of those damaged houses are technically still standing with four walls and ceilings, but there are widespread concerns from the community about disturbed asbestos.
Ms Gananbarr spent the night of Cyclone Lam sheltering inside Galiwinku’s school before she went back to check on her house in the morning.
“It was messy with trees all over [and] it’s not good for the health,” she said.
“Asbestos was all over when myself [and another person] went into the house. We opened the door and smelled it, and came back straight away.
“We knew that we shouldn’t be there because it is poison.”
Ms Gananbarr would not walk near her house when she re-visited the battered yellow property with the ABC on Friday morning.
Before the cyclone, Ms Gananbarr said she was asking Territory Housing to help fix the property, with issues such as broken taps, showers and walls that leaked when it rained.
She managed to salvage half her belongings and is not sure how long she be staying at school, which is also housing about 35 other displaced adults and children.
Ms Gananbarr and two others living at the school have been getting up every morning to work at Galiwinku’s Birrk Birrk, a facility which includes an op-shop and volunteer space.
The Remote Jobs and Communities Program (RJCP) facility has been distributing cyclone-relief donations received from neighbouring Top End communities, such as Nhulunbuy.
Ms Gananbarr said she just wants to help other people who have been affected by Cyclone Lam.
“I do it for the community’s sake, so they won’t just sit there and do nothing,” she said.
“After work, I come back to the shelter and have my dinner with my family.
“I have a rest for the next day of work.”
Ms Gananbarr was expecting her house to be demolished and would like a new one in its place.
She said she was very hopeful Galiwinku will go back to normal after the cyclone, but that might take months or even a year.
About 300 emergency beds are set to be erected for displaced Galiwinku community members when military supplies arrive on Saturday.