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‘12 homes completely destroyed’
It’s been a busy and exhausting 36 hours for the American Red Cross NMI Chapter with the recent passage of Tropical Storm Bavi.
Speaking at the Saipan Rotary Club weekly meeting yesterday, ARC NMI Chapter executive director John Hirsch said that 12 homes on Saipan were completely destroyed. The homes were made of tin and wood.
In total, 62 calls for emergency assistance were made to the Red Cross during the storm, Hirsch said.
Tropical storm Bavi uprooted one of the larger trees at the Susupe Beach Park. (Dennis B. Chan)
Besides the 12 homes destroyed, 20 homes reported major damage, and 25 reported minor damage. Five of the emergency calls were from homes that turned out were still habitable, but gave reports that their shutters were disjointed, for example, he said.
“Our teams are out [yesterday] providing individual casework,” he said.
Previously, they did “windshield assessments,” like taking pictures. Yesterday, they went back, talking to families and finding out what the emergency needs are. “Whether they need to get roofing tinned, whether they need two-by-fours, food assistance,” Hirsch added.
Depending on the scale of damage, Red Cross usually provides around $1,000 in financial support to each family.
“We are anticipating to spend between $30,000 to $40,000 just helping those families in the next two days,” he said. “The money that comes in from community, we turn it right back out and try to provide at least a stepping stone or a foot forward in families making a recovery.”
Unfortunately, he said, a lot of homes on island are not insured, and with a “thin” social services network, there are not a lot of services on island to provide meaningful support.
