Inos: Collaboration is key to prevent relief snafus

Inos

Gov. Eloy S Inos summoned members of the Legislature and representatives of federal and local agencies yesterday to share updates on the ongoing recovery efforts for Saipan.

“Under the circumstances, I am glad we can still convene and share some updates on our recovery efforts so that we are all on the same page,” said Inos during the meeting on Capital Hill.

He added that “we need to be resilient” and in anything that needs to be done, “we should collaborate” to make the work easier.

One of Inos’ recommendations is to ask the agencies and CNMI departments to coordinate, particularly on information dissemination.

Inos was apparently referring to incidents on Wednesday and other previous incidents involving distribution centers and relief operations.

One particular incident involved some 2,000 residents trooping to the American Red Cross NMI Chapter, prompting ports police to close the Airport Road when the traffic spilled into the road.

Some of crowd reportedly fought with each other, and grew angry under the hot sun as they waited for relief goods. The event was described as “chaotic” and “overwhelming.”

Another was the first day of relief operations over the weekend that saw thousands of resident queuing up for hours before receiving aid.

“There is frustration among the public, which can create chaotic incidents,” Inos said.

The governor also addressed local media to “work with the government” when it comes to information sharing.

Inos also lauded the efforts of Lt. Gov. Ralph DLG. Torres, who was “able to stand up in two major catastrophes” that the CNMI faced.

Concerns
Torres reiterated that it is a challenge for the CNMI government to address the sudden rush of people to designated areas due to “misinformation.”

“Some of the communities tend to get the wrong information,” he said.

Another major challenge for the CNMI is the lack of hotel rooms for the members of numerous agencies currently on Saipan doing their respective work.

Homeland Emergency Management special assistant Marvin K. Seman described this and other concerns as “logistics nightmare.”

For water and power, the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. continues to rely on generators and is not yet producing its own power.

CUC Power Division manager Gary Camacho, who gave a brief update on repairs of power poles and power lines, said that Yap and FSM have jumped in and offered qualified linemen to complement local manpower.

For the American Red Cross, information dissemination is also an issue.

In a statement, the ARC said it needs the help of the CNMI government and members of the Legislature to encourage communities to fill up and sign a one-page declaration of ownership and occupancy.

The ARC, which relies on volunteers, has asked lawmakers to help disseminate the document by tapping community workers.