SAIPAN – FEMA has approved more than $52 million in direct assistance to Sinlaku and Bavi survivors, including more than $10 million for housing, and a temporary roofing mission that began on Rota over the weekend drew about 95 applications in its first three to four days, federal recovery officials said on Good Morning Marianas Tuesday.
FEMA External Affairs Officer Victor Inge and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Public Affairs’ Jeff Henon laid out where the twin recoveries stand, from missions closing out to those just beginning.
The Corps closed out its Saipan debris mission for Super Typhoon Sinlaku last week after collecting about 150,000 cubic yards of vegetation, baled metal, and construction and demolition debris. “If you combined all of that debris onto a football field, including the end zones, it would stand seven stories tall,” Henon said. No debris mission is planned for Bavi.
On Rota, the Corps’ temporary roofing mission started this past weekend. Residents apply by submitting a right-of-entry form at the Sinapalo Youth Center, which now serves as a one-stop shop: FEMA’s newly opened Survivor Recovery Center operates there, registering Rota residents for individual assistance, approved for Bavi, and collecting roofing forms in the same visit. The center has logged more than 270 visitors since opening. Information is available through the Rota Mayor’s Office at 532-9451.
The roofs are professionally installed temporary metal roofing rather than the blue tarps of past missions, at no cost to the homeowner. Pressed by a caller on what “temporary” means, Inge gave it straight: FEMA cannot make permanent repairs to private homes, and what keeps the metal roof from being permanent is the finishing work, fascia boards and cornices, that a homeowner would complete later, potentially with an SBA disaster loan. “When you put metal on a roof, it’s going toward a permanent solution, but it doesn’t get them to a permanent solution,” Inge said. “And it’s at no cost to the homeowner.”
The same caller challenged FEMA’s disaster tents as dangerously hot in the tropical sun. Henon acknowledged the point, saying the tents are rated for roughly 50 mph winds and meant as rain shelter and storage rather than all-day living. Inge noted that some Saipan homes still without power are keeping families in tents who could otherwise go home.
Elsewhere in the recovery: the Corps’ 249th Engineer Battalion has been generating power on Tinian since Sinlaku knocked out the island’s power plant, and Henon said CNMI leadership is working on a solution that would let the battalion go home. On Rota, the Corps installed generators at the health center, shelters and other critical facilities after Bavi. New classrooms the Corps is building at Northern Marianas College and Koblerville Elementary School are engineered to withstand 194 mph winds. Erosion at the Rota causeway and marina breakwater came up as a possible future project; both officials said no mission has been assigned, with Inge explaining that FEMA would mission-assign the Corps if the CNMI requests it.
Inge said FEMA’s individual assistance registration period for Sinlaku has closed but the Saipan Survivor Recovery Center remains open, and he urged applicants who received a denial to read their FEMA correspondence carefully and appeal. “Don’t stop,” he said. “A no doesn’t always mean no.”
The full interview is available on NMI News Service’s social media pages and YouTube channel.
