IT&E helps CNMI recover from Yutu destruction

HARMON, Guam—In the aftermath of the devastation of Super Typhoon Yutu, residents of Saipan and Tinian confront damaged or destroyed homes, lost personal belongings, and the trauma of surviving a major disaster.

Rose Soledad, IT&E’s CNMI general manager, said that no one on Saipan and Tinian is unaffected. “Some have even been left with nothing,” she said. “But we’re resilient. We will overcome. Despite our individual hardships we’re all determined to work as a community to support each other and help each other recover. The road ahead may be long and challenging, but as one, we can rebuild the Marianas stronger than ever.” 

During and immediately after the storm, IT&E provided support to first responders by increasing internet capacity at the headquarters of the NMI Homeland Security & Emergency Management Office and providing power banks for responders for free.

Afterwards, IT&E partnered with community groups as they organize and carry out relief missions. The American Red Cross-NMI Chapter received free phones to assist with communications vital to organizing and distributing resources to help rebuild the lives of those affected in Saipan and Tinian.

The Salvation Army received portable Wi-Fi devices to support their task of providing hot meals and much needed services to local residents without power and limited access to drinking water.

Marianas Young Professionals received free phone and internet services for its Disaster Recovery Center, where residents can get food and supplies.

Staying connected
IT&E’s network withstood the storm’s most intense wind and rain. Most subscribers never lost service during the storm.

Technicians are now working to restore the remaining sites that are down. As of this statement, five sites on Saipan are under maintenance. Sites on Tinian were severely damaged, and technicians are conducting assessments for repair.

To ease the stress of subscribers as they focus their resources on things that need their immediate attention, IT&E has extended the October, November, and December payment due date for all CNMI accounts to Dec. 31, 2018.  Suspension has been postponed to Dec. 31, 2018 as well.

All postpaid subscribers received an extra 5 gigabytes of data for free and all prepaid daily plans and data top-ups were 50 percent off until Oct. 30.  Home phone subscribers can make calls without power as long as they have a corded phone.

Charging stations are in service at IT&E’s Chalan Laulau store parking lot for residents to charge phones and mobile devices. The Chalan Laulau store is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm.

The TSL Plaza location is also ready to assist customers from 9am to 5pm, as the power supply allows. The Tinian store remains closed until further notice. Subscribers can find up to date information about IT&E store hours on its Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter pages.

In Guam, both IT&E subscribers and associates are doing what they can to help those affected by Super Typhoon Yutu.

Subscribers will be supporting relief and recovery efforts from now until Dec. 31 via a text-to-donate line. Funds raised will go to the American Red Cross to support its relief and recovery efforts.

Guam’s associates have personally donated water, non-perishable food items, toiletries, batteries, containers, and other necessities to be distributed to fellow associates on Saipan and Tinian. IT&E shipped the first container full of the donations to the islands on Oct. 31, 2018, with another container scheduled to arrive soon.

“IT&E remains fully committed to supporting relief and recovery efforts and will continue to find ways to help the people of the Marianas recover,” the company said in a statement. (PR)