[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 14]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 20217]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   REFLECTING ON THE RECOVERY OF THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS SINCE 
                            TYPHOON SOUDELOR

                                 ______
                                 

                  HON. GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN

                    of the northern mariana islands

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 15, 2015

  Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, on the night of August 2nd and through the 
early morning of August 3rd this year, Typhoon Soudelor lashed through 
the Northern Mariana Islands, causing widespread destruction to homes, 
businesses, and infrastructure, uprooting the lives of the people I 
represent here in Congress.
  Today, I want to reflect on that event, and on the exceptional grace 
and generosity that have made recovery possible.
  The typhoon's impact was especially grave on Saipan, the most 
populated island in the Northern Marianas. Soudelor rendered hundreds 
of families homeless overnight. It also decimated infrastructure--
knocking out power and water systems, shutting down the ports, ravaging 
the college, schools and other public buildings.
  Survival is a way of life in our islands. We are accustomed to 
bracing ourselves through tropical storms and picking ourselves up when 
skies clear. But the sheer ferocity of Typhoon Soudelor caught us all 
off-guard. Even the National Weather Service failed to foresee the 
force of this storm.
  That there was no loss of life is testament to the resilience and 
resourcefulness of our people. And we are grateful to Providence for 
sparing us.
  As long as we live, those of us who experienced Soudelor will not 
forget the wreckage we saw the morning after. Nor will we forget the 
hardship that followed, the long hours in line for food and fuel and 
other necessities, the days of physical suffering and distress, the 
weeks without power and running water.
  Soudelor tested our infrastructure, our government, and our capacity 
as a community to deal with disaster.
  Now, however, four months after the storm, I can report that 
conditions are greatly improved, since that long and terrifying night 
in August.
  Electricity is restored, and residents have daily water service. 
Streets have been cleaned in our villages and commercial districts. 
Students are in school. Businesses have reopened. Workers are employed 
again. Families are putting their lives back together.
  Though there is still much to reconstruct and strengthen to be better 
prepared and more resilient than before, it is remarkable how far we 
have come on the road to recovery.
  So, today, I want to thank all those who contributed to this 
successful response to adversity. There are so many individuals and 
organizations. It is not possible for me to know and name each and 
every one. Their collective efforts prove how much can be done, when 
people work together towards a common goal.
  First we thank the American people, who gave without hesitation to 
fellow citizens in need. When all is said and done, American taxpayers 
will have contributed an estimated 100 million dollars in federal 
disaster aid to feed those who had no food, shelter those who lost 
their homes, repair residences and replace lost property, reopen shops 
and return the economy to life, revive the power and water systems. In 
doing all this, they gave us the hope that we needed to work our way to 
recovery.
  We thank President Barack Obama and Governor Eloy Inos for their 
leadership in ensuring the prompt availability of resources to address 
the state of disaster in the Northern Marianas.
  We thank the Federal Emergency Management Agency team, led by Federal 
Coordinating Officer Stephen De Blasio. FEMA's collaborative spirit set 
the tone for the response, working with other federal agencies and 
responders to aid the thousands of typhoon survivors.
  We thank our U.S. service members, who mobilized quickly to produce 
and distribute drinking water, clear debris, clean up fuel spills, and 
transport critical supplies and equipment.
  We thank our Commonwealth emergency management crews, utility 
workers, police officers and firefighters, healthcare professionals, 
educators, and other local government employees, who answered the call 
to serve even as their own families were picking up the pieces of their 
shattered homes and lives.
  We thank our local businesses, shuttered by the storm, who 
nevertheless rallied together to raise funds for the recovery effort.
  We thank the legions of volunteers--of all ages, all religions and 
races, many survivors themselves--who came forward to share food, 
water, clothing, shelter, and comfort with their fellow human beings.
  And we thank our friends from throughout the Pacific region, and 
indeed throughout the world, for sending supplies, expertise, and 
equipment by air and by sea to help us back on our feet.
  Today, the marks of Typhoon Soudelor are still to be seen in homes 
and businesses yet to be repaired, debris yet to be removed. But 
beneath these physical scars, a new strength is arising.
  A new community-based working group known as CARE--the Commonwealth 
Advocates for Recovery Efforts--has emerged. The people in CARE--from 
all walks of life, private and public sector, formal and informal 
organizations--are committed to rebuilding our island home so that it 
is stronger and better than before.
  With this newborn spirit of hope, cooperation and interdependence I 
am confident that we will succeed.

                          ____________________