We were all stunned to here about the E5 tornado that struck through the city of Moore, Oklahoma on May 20th, 2013. 23 people lost their lives and 377 others were injured while an estimated 1,150 homes were destroyed. But as the news cameras left as days went by, the town remained completely devastated and probably for years to come.

Vancouver filmmaker Panayioti Yannitsos has originally booked a trip to Oklahoma for cousin’s wedding, but after the tornado struck he decided to bring his camera equipment with him to document the aftermath of the disaster. Pan arrived in Moore three weeks after the tornado struck, and felt that people only saw as much as he did on television but no one really took the audience deep enough into the rubble.

That’s what I wanted to accomplish with this film and I feel like I did give audiences a perspective that they didn’t have before. I decided to focus in on specific locations and let audiences soak it all in. For example, I focused on one home–“the Hamilton’s”–and showed both the inside and outside of the house. The damage was incredible. Most importantly, I hoped audiences imagined themselves in place of the Hamilton family. I don’t know them personally, but staring at their home in shambles was the most powerful moment of my time in Moore. My thoughts and prayers go out to them.

Pan also wanted to show a portrait of all the people that are helping cleaning all this up, in this occasion showing the Southern Baptist Convention who Pan says were extremely helpful to him and especially to the Moore community.

The short was all brought together by an eerie music created by Jamie Spittal that amplifies the silence left behind by this monster tornado.

My intention for this film is simply to show audiences what exactly an E5 tornado is capable of and the amount of lives it can impact. I don’t want us to forget the people of Moore. They have an uphill climb to recovery and deserve all the help they can get. I imagined myself and my family losing everything. As expected, I couldn’t even begin to fathom how I would react. Making this film, however, did bring me closer to understanding what such a loss could feel like. The bottom line is, most of us get to return to our apartments and homes in one piece. Many in Moore, Oklahoma were stripped of that luxury and they deserve our support.

You can help by donating to the American Red Cross Disaster Fund or visit Panayioti’s site beneaththerubble.org and follow the link and easy directions to donate.