FSM provides additional aid to NMI

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, right, shakes the hand of Federated States of Micronesia Consul General to Guam Teresa Fillepin after receiving a check as a donation by the FSM government to the CNMI’s recovery efforts from Super Typhoon Yutu last month. (Contributed Photo)

The CNMI will be receiving additional financial aid from the Federated States of Micronesia after the FSM Congress passed an act appropriating $170,000 of assistance in the Commonwealth’s ongoing recovery efforts from Super Typhoon Yutu.

The FSM Congress passed the Congressional Act that allocated additional funding to donate to the CNMI in a special session last week.

FSM President Peter M. Christian signed the Congressional Act into law that appropriated $100,000 for the CNMI’s Yutu relief and $70,000 in funding the FSM’s state-owned utilities companies in sending its linemen and emergency personnel to assist the Commonwealth.

The CNMI government welcomed the FSM’s additional aid after the island nation had already donated $100,000 last month that would help the people of the Commonwealth to recover after two successive devastating typhoons.

Typhoon Mangkhut pummeled Rota on Sept. 10 and after more than a month, Yutu barreled through Saipan and Tinian, with both islands feeling the brunt of the Category 5 super typhoon in the early morning of Oct. 25.

Yutu was considered the strongest to hit the Marianas with the FSM government also donating another $100,000 to Guam.

FSM Consul General to Guam Teresa Fillepin has also been coordinating with her staff and the local association of FSM nationals in Guam in gathering relief supplies for Saipan and Tinian with Matson offering a 20-foot container and providing free shipping.

The FSM national government is hoping that the $200,000 in financial aid, and providing additional linemen and emergency personnel would help the Commonwealth recover fast from the devastation brought by Yutu.

Filepin, last November, personally turned over the first $100,000 check to Gov. Ralph DLG Torres to help the CNMI’s recovery efforts. FSM Consul for the CNMI Diego T. Benavente and Rep. Ivan A. Blanco (R-Saipan) were also present to welcome Filepin.

More than 3,000 FSM nationals call the islands their home where many of its citizens also affected by Yutu’s destructive force.

Various federal agencies—led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Department of Defense—the American Red Cross-NMI Chapter, and other local and international non-governmental organizations are also assisting the CNMI’s recovery.