Post-Sinlaku recovery tasks continue; Donations to Ayuda boost relief efforts
- Admin
- May 8
- 6 min read
Updated: May 14
By Pacific Island Times News Staff
Disaster recovery efforts and relief assistance continued to pour into communities affected by Super Typhoon Sinlaku, which pounded Chuuk, Guam and the Northern Marianas in mid-April.
Sinlaku, a Category 5 storm, left massive destruction in Chuuk and the CNMI, which are facing a long road to recovery. Guam is still assessing the extent of damage from the storm.
Local and federal agencies, as well as the private sector, have mobilized relief efforts in affected communities.
The Division of Homelessness Assistance and Poverty Prevention of the Department of Public Health and Social Services is deploying food commodity distributions at multiple locations across Guam to reach households affected by Sinlaku.
Food assistance is prioritized for households affected by food loss, including those receiving SNAP, Medicaid, MIP, or with limited resources.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service is providing additional SNAP food replacement assistance for eligible households. The food loss waiver is for SNAP households that lost food purchased with EBT benefits due to the typhoon.
To apply, the SNAP head of household or an authorized representative must complete and sign a food loss waiver affidavit, which will be accepted from May 11 to 14. Download the form from dphss.guam.gov, complete and sign it, then email it tosnapfoodloss@dphss.guam.gov
Housing assistance
The Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority is helping to clear that path by connecting homeowners with the tools and resources needed to move forward after Sinlaku.
GHURA invites the community to utilize its newly opened Housing Recovery Application Center (HRAC)—a self-service computer lab designed to support prospective applicants for its “Fix in Six” housing programs.
The center provides access to computers, internet service, and scanning equipment to help residents complete and submit their applications with ease.
The HRAC is open Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and is located on the second floor of the Agana Shopping Center (former GameStop location). Walk-ins are accepted, with the final check-in at 2 p.m. Extended hours may be considered based on community demand.
The opening of the HRAC coincides with the soft launch of Housing Program 1: Guma Na Maolek (“Make Homes Good”), which began accepting applications on April 30. As the first of six programs under GHURA’s “Fix in Six” initiative, Guma Na Maolek focuses on assisting eligible homeowners with repairs to residences impacted by Typhoon Mawar.
Donations to Ayuda Foundation boost relief efforts
Guam families and businesses are showing up en force to help their island neighbors in the CNMI and in Chuuk in the wake of Sinlaku. Several are digging deep with substantial financial donations to the Ayuda Foundation, which has, for 30 years, assisted Guam and the region with disaster relief efforts.
The family of the late Alfred and Diana Ysrael, prominent business owners on Guam for decades, donated $30,000 to Ayuda on May 7.
Jude Baker noted that his family’s donation was made in honor of his wife Donna’s late parents. “Our donation is made in honor of them and their love of the people of Guam and the Mariana Islands,” said Baker.
Businesswoman Anna Kao presented Ayuda with its first relief donation - a check for $20,000.
“Ayuda could not be first on the ground with disaster relief as we have been for decades without people like the Bakers and Mrs. Kao,” said Carlotta Leon Guerrero, executive director of Ayuda.
Guam Telephone Authority has donated $25,000, the Bank of Guam has given us $20,000 and SPPC $10,000.
Leon Guerrero. She noted that partnerships with Matson Navigation, Triple J, Pacific Trucking Group and United Airlines have also substantially bolstered relief efforts.
“We’ve filled 15 containers with food, clothing, tools, you name it - from the people of Guam, and Matson is shipping these containers to Saipan and Chuuk,” said Leon Guerrero.
“United Airlines helped us get 1,000 mosquito nets to Chuuk, and Triple J and Pacific Trucking have been essential to our efforts with moving donations and logistics coordination. Ayuda could not be the guerrilla force for relief efforts that we are without all of these companies,” she said.
“The money we receive helps us to purchase needed medical kits and supplies and other items that people cannot donate individually,” said Leon Guerrero.
Be Heartfelt receives 6,000 hygiene kits
Heart to Heart International, a global humanitarian organization, has donated 6,000 hygiene kits to Be Heartfelt for distribution to those affected by Sinlaku.
Through this partnership, approximately 2,000 hygiene kits will be distributed in Guam, while another 2,000 kits will be shipped to Saipan in partnership with Ayuda Foundation. An additional 2,000 kits will be sent to Chuuk through the same collaborative effort to support vulnerable families and communities recovering from the storm.
Heart to Heart International coordinated the air shipment of the hygiene kits to Guam through its partnership with FedEx. The supplies are scheduled to arrive on Thursday via United Airlines.
Pacific Unlimited Trucking will distribute the supplies to their designated locations throughout the region.
In Guam, the Guam Department of Education Outreach Team will help distribute hygiene kits to students and children across the island affected by Sinlaku.
“These hygiene kits represent so much more than supplies,” said Lori Marble, founder of Be Heartfelt. “They are a reminder to families across our islands that they are seen, loved, and not forgotten during difficult times."
Fundraising drive launched for CNMI's cancer patients
Guam Cancer Care has launched the “Fuel the Fight,” a fundraising campaign to support CNMI cancer patients affected by Sinlaku.
Jude and Donna Ysrael Baker provided a $10,000 campaign kickoff donation.
Guam Cancer Care has received an email from the Commonwealth Cancer Association seeking assistance on behalf of cancer patients affected by Typhoon Sinlaku with much-needed patient supplies, including Ensure, Glucerna, adult wipes, adult diapers and colostomy supplies.
Guam Cancer Care will be selling t-shirts and umbrellas for $20 or will accept any form of monetary donations. All proceeds from the Fuel the Fight Support CNMI cancer patients campaign will be used to procure nutritional supplements and patient supplies, which will be transported directly to Saipan for cancer patients' use.
The $10,000 kickoff donation was made by the children and grandchildren of the late philanthropist Alfred and his wife, Diana Ysrael, who served as a long-time nurse at Guam Memorial Hospital in the 1950s and 1960s.
“Any support we can provide our CNMI brothers and sisters suffering with cancer care during this time of need is a true blessing we can provide to those in severe need," said Terry Cuabo, executive director for Guam Cancer Care.
"If the roles were reversed and Guam was severely impacted by Typhoon Sinlaku, we know the CNMI community would not hesitate to support our Guam cancer patients in their time of need."
Storm debris cleanup begins
Saipan -The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin typhoon debris removal next week to restore access to transportation routes and support long-term rebuilding on Saipan, Tinian and Rota.
Officials instructed residents to sort their storm debris and place it safely at the roadside, or right-of-way, for pickup.
“Our teams are on the ground and fully committed to supporting the communities across CNMI during this critical time,” said Lt. Col. Adrian Biggerstaff, commander, USACE Recovery Field Office located in Saipan.
“Working shoulder-to-shoulder with FEMA and our local CNMI partners, our priority is to safely and efficiently clear the hazards left in the wake of Typhoon Sinlaku, so these communities can recover," he added.
The debris removal mission focuses on the sorting, collection and proper disposal of storm-related debris from public rights-of-way, critical infrastructure sites, and local neighborhoods to support recovery from Sinlaku.
A village-by-village schedule will be announced soon through the FEMA-CNMI Joint Information Center.
To help crews work as quickly as possible, residents are asked to sort debris into the categories below and place it along the public right-of-way, ensuring it does not block the roadway, cover fire hydrants, or utility meters.
Separation categories:
Vegetative debris (e.g., leaves, branches, logs)
Large appliances (e.g., refrigerators, washers, dryers, stoves)
Construction & demolition debris (e.g., drywall, lumber, roofing materials)
Sheet metal debris (e.g., sheet metal, tin)
Electronics (e.g., TVs, computers, radios, printers, solar panels)
Household hazardous materials, (e.g., paint, oils, batteries, pesticides, chemicals)
Municipal solid waste and regular household trash, including bagged trash, food waste and paper goods will not be picked up.
Residents are advised to continue using existing municipal or contracted trash services, as applicable, for regular household garbage.
