Island Snapshots – March 2020

By Contributing Author

Posted on Mar 02 2020

: A DIFFERENT KIND OF WHITTLING-Grand master navigator Antonio “Tony” Urmeyang Piailug smooths out the edges to carve out a latte stone on the keel of a traditional canoe that is being built at the canoe house in Susupe. (JUSTINE NAUTA)

: DETAIL TINIAN-TINIAN, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands—Equipment Operator 2nd Class Scott Valente, deployed with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 5’s Detail Tinian, assists with the offload of civil engineering support equipment during Detail Tinian’s embarkation to the island for future projects. NMCB-5 is deployed across the Indo-Pacific region conducting high-quality construction to support U.S. and partner nations to strengthen partnerships, deter aggression, and enable expeditionary logistics and naval power projection. (U.S. NAVY/LT. PATRICK DANIELE)

: TINIAN EXERCISE-U.S. Air Force personnel set up a surveillance camera during the humanitarian assistance and disaster relief component of Exercise Cope North 20 on the island of Tinian. Exercise COPE North 20 is a Pacific Air Forces-sponsored multilateral field training exercise. CN20 involves more than 2,000 personnel and approximately 100 aircraft and aims to increase the combat readiness and interoperability of the U.S. Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force and Japan Air Self-Defense Force. (ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE/CPL DAVID SAID)

: VOLUNTEERS The Commonwealth Cancer Association extends its appreciation to Kagman High School National Honor Society members, Northern Marianas College Nursing Club members and advisers for their help during the Triple J Bubble Color Fun Run-Walk last March 7, 2020. (Contributed Photo)

: SANS CHAIRS AND TABLES-The Joeten Superstore in San Jose has removed its tables and chairs near the exit section to comply with the requirement for people to practice social distancing. (CHEVY KATE ALIPIO)

: EMPTY SATURDAY MARKET The parking lot of Marianas Business Plaza in Susupe is usually crowded with vendors and customers every Saturday morning until noon, but the place was empty last Saturday in accordance with a gubernatorial directive encouraging social distancing due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Ferdie De La Torre)

: CPA BOARD MEETING Commonwealth Ports Authority executive director Christopher S. Tenorio, middle, explains the CPA management’s position regarding the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.’s plan to reactivate Power Plant 3 in Isley Field during a recent CPA board’s Airport Facilities Committee meeting. Also in the photo are board members Pete Reyes, extreme left, and Ramon Tebuteb. (Ferdie De La Torre)

: ADVENTURE TIME A man does his bit for “social distancing” by setting up a tent atop his truck at Oleai Beach. (Chevy Kate Alipio)

: GHOST TOWN-This intersection that bisects the Imperial Pacific Saipan casino-hotel on one side, the Garapan Elementary School and the DFS T Galleria on the other—considered the heart of Saipan’s tourism district—was once one of the busiest crossroads on the island but resembles a ghost town lately, what with the enhanced measures implemented by the CNMI government under the State of Significant Emergency and a State of Public Health Emergency as a precautionary measure against COVID-19. (KRIZEL TUAZON)

: NEW SYSTEM The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. provides a tent for people waiting to be called inside the CUC Customer Center in Dandan. The office is limiting the number of people inside the center as part of social distancing measures. (Chevy Kate Alipio)

: MEAL DISTRIBUTION Parents and their children line up at the Garapan Elementary School to pick up meals via drive-thru and walk-in during the first meal distribution last Wednesday of the Public School System Child Nutrition Program. (Kimberly A. Bautista)

: ISLAND LIFE Despite the economic crisis the CNMI is facing as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak worldwide, people continue to visit Saipan’s famed beaches while practicing social distancing. (Kimberly A. Bautista)

: SEABEES ON TINIAN TINIAN, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands—Equipment Operator 2nd Class Scott Valente, deployed with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 5’s Detail Tinian, operates a dozer to prepare for future projects on the island of Tinian. NMCB-5 is deployed across the Indo-Pacific region conducting high-quality construction to support U.S. and partner nations to strengthen partnerships, deter aggression, and enable expeditionary logistics and naval power projection. (U.S. NAVY/SENIOR CHIEF CONSTRUCTIONMAN WILLIAM CONZO)

Contributing Author

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