Transcript
Six months after Typhoon Maysak tore through parts of Federated States of Micronesia, the International Organisation for Migration says the recovery is still far from complete.
The category five system struck the states of Chuuk and Yap in March, killing five people, wiping out crops, contaminating water supplies, and destroying about 90 percent of infrastructure on some islands.
The chief of the IOM's Mission in Micronesia, Stuart Simpson, says the main focus until now has been restoring crops and water supplies.
He told Jamie Tahana that the recovery is now moving into a second phase which will focus on rebuilding damaged infrastructure but logistics is proving to be a challenge.
STUART SIMPSON: The islands that were struck are mainly self sufficient, they survive on rain water catchment and they grow a lot of their food. What food they don't grow they use small boats to go to the main islands to buy, so what the typhoon did was it destroyed a lot of crops, it destroyed the rain water catching capacity, and it also destroyed a lot of their logistics ability, the ability to be able to go to other islands. So what we've been doing for the last six months is providing shipping, logistics, we've been providing food and water and working with FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation), we've been providing logistic support to FAO to be able to get seeds and seedlings out there. Now obviously when your crops are damaged, it takes a season for the crops to be able to be replanted, grow, and then be able to produce food again, so in that time we've been providing supplementary food assistance, while the new crops are going in, before they can actually produce food. We've also been repairing rain water catchments systems, so again, as we're doing the deliveries, we're repairing spouting, tanks, plumbing, so the communities can actually start getting their own water. Slowly and surely we're trying to be able to help the communities become self sufficient again.
JAMIE TAHANA: Are they starting to see that, are they starting to get crops or are they still relying a lot on shipped food?
SS: They are starting to be able to get back and become more self sufficient, we've had assessors out, we're cutting back the food that we've been supplying slowly, where that's ok to do. We're obviously still delivering food where it's needed but yeah, we're coming into a phase now where slowly they can start supporting themselves and also we're coming into the reconstruction phase so we'll be doing a lot more within the next 60 days, we've ordered the materials and organising the logistics to bring the materials in. We work with the different communities, different government departments, we're building infrastructure, repairing housing, and basically doing a lot of the reconstruction side as opposed to just the relief.
JT: We'll get to the reconstruction in a second, but on the food, we are approaching what is predicted by many to be one of the worst El Niño in well over a decade, is that a concern when these crops are so fledgling, they're really sort of on a back foot compared to the rest of the Pacific, which is expecting quite a devastating drought?
SS: Yes, and of course, we're monitoring that very closely, we work with different governments and keeping a close eye on that and that being a potential disaster we need to be prepared before that actually becomes a real problem.
JT: So to be prepared, what's being done?
SS: Well a lot is monitoring and basically working with the government and putting in a lot of systems where basically if that needs to be, we can actually help those affected communities. I mean in the past, with water being a problem, we've used reverse osmosis machines and they can produce clean water out of sea water, now we actually deployed them for this emergency on all of the islands, to be able to produce fresh water because the rain water harvesting was damaged.
JT: Ninety percent of houses and stuff was wiped out, you've mentioned that a big reconstruction phase is about to begin, from what are we starting at?
SS: With the destruction, you've got two areas that were affected, Yap and Chuuk, Yap really bore the brunt, I think the winds were up to 195 miles an hour so you've got a small area on Yap, but a lot of the housing was really badly damaged and destroyed, so we've obviously got a fair amount to rebuild there. Chuuk, the winds were less strong but you've got a lot wider area. So the damage was probably a little less there but it's spread out over a bigger area and a lot more islands. So we've been doing the assessments, working out the level of which the houses were damaged, whether they've had minor damage, major damage, whether they were totally destroyed, and we've ordered materials to bring in to be able to repair those houses. The same with the government infrastructure, working with public utilities, and that's schools, electricity, we're working with them to bring in the materials they need to be able to do long term repairs on the damage there.
JT: During these assessment phases over the past six months, what have the people been doing in terms of where they're living, where they're going to classes and stuff?
SS: A lot of people have been using their initiative, and doing what they can, getting materials. Luckily the school break has been over the last few months, so the schools are only just going back now. We have pre-positioned stock, warehouses which are supported by USAID, and part of that is tents, so we've been able to mobilise some tents to areas where schools have been very badly damaged so classes can restart.
JT: Ok, but people have been living in shelters up until now?
SS: I mean, the thing is, a lot of houses when they get damaged loose their roofing. So during the initial stages we provide ropes and tarpaulin, so people are able to fix up if they've got a hole in the roof, they can put a tarpaulin over it and tie it down and that does as a temporary structure until we get the materials in there to do the proper repairs.
JT: You've just got 10 million dollars from the US government, and US aid did too, so what are the main priority areas as we move into this second phase of reconstruction.
SS: That 10 million, the vast majority is from the US aid but it's also from other donors, Australia and in New Zealand, that can include the relief side as well as the recovery, so a lot of that money has gone into the logistics, remembering these are very remote islands over a large area, so the logistics are just chartering ships to be able to carry that, so that's what we've done, we've chartered ships to be able to carry not only materials that we've purchased, procured, but government materials, as I mentioned before, the seeds, the seedlings, and the food as well. Feeding people for the last six months, providing water and that so a lot of that funding has actually gone into supporting the relief operation, the logistics, and now the reconstruction phase, we're purchasing material and we'll be shipping that out to the affected areas shortly.
JT: There's still a fair bit to do is there?
SS: Oh yes, the main problem, the main obstacle is the logistics. So for all the materials you get, whether it might be transformers for power, power plants, poles for electricity lines, or housing materials, roofing iron, that's got to be procured in other places, it has to be shipped here, then it comes to a staging point in Yap or Chuuk, the main islands there, then it has to go through secondary transportation, again by sea, out to the different islands and that. So the main obstacles are logistics and the time it takes to move things around so it's not like a disaster in one place, how you've got supplies very close by, to be able to get those supplies there very quickly. The area here, the immense area of sea, and the area we're covering, seems to be the fact that slows us down unfortunately.
