Transcript
Mike Pascual, a 39-year-old father of two, says it has been over a month since Typhoon Yutu ravaged the CNMI and some areas still have no electricity and limited water while schools are only just starting to open.
"From the government, they only give us the FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Those are the ones who help, will help us.
"They already come to the house, estimate the damage, and they told us that they will try to do things to help us. Some they interview, check, they did the inspection.
For now we don't have any feedback from FEMA."
Mr Pascual, who has lived on Saipan for more than 10 years, says damage to his property has been estimated to be between 8,000 and 10,000 US dollars.
He has also been among thousands of islanders queueing to receive food stamps.
"The govt are helping to get assistance from the federal govt. But it's really slow. Maybe what we need is more donations for the people here."
The Northern Marianas Delegate to the US House of Representatives has criticised the FEMA for a slow response.
At a committee hearing, Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan said there were many complaints regarding the Yutu relief effort.
These included the delayed opening of disaster recovery centres, the long wait for damage inspections, and a mailing error that meant many FEMA inspection notices and payments were not delivered.
Nadine Deleon-Guerrero, from the island's Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, admits though there were setbacks during the beginning of the relief effort, progress, since, has been impressive.
"In the beginning of the recovery process, we did have some setbacks, and a lot of it have to deal with the location and how far we are geographically from the resources that are available to help us get back to normalcy. Since then, we've restored operations to the airport, to our seaport. We have schools that will be opening in the coming week. In the beginning of the storm, we had 1100 shelterees. We have now reduced that number to 379. We've also restored 100 of our 130 water wells to the island so water is getting to the homes."
Ms Deleon-Guerrero says the government has now moved from providing hot meals to distributing pantry boxes, including rice, canned food and milk and eggs for those who have access to power.
RNZ Pacific's correspondent, Mark Rabago, says people are still queueing up for food with thousands camping overnight to get their share of rations.
"I think 4000 lined up on the first day. I think there's less than 500 people in evacuation centres right now. Most have come back to their homes and rebuilding their lives. But there's still some, some people in evacuation centres."
Mr Rabago says on a positive note, commercial flights have started which should bring back tourists and get the economy up and running soon.
