HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Guam may be looking at hundreds, possibly thousands, of people who have essentially been left homeless in the aftermath of Typhoon Mawar, based on preliminary figures gathered by mayors, according to Sinajana Mayor Robert Hofmann, vice president of the Mayors’ Council of Guam.
“Our initial numbers, the mayors had to do a damage assessment … Friday or Saturday. (The Federal Emergency Management Agency) asked us for a preliminary number of houses we can visually see that lost everything, … basically … uninhabitable. The mayors have submitted those numbers. Those numbers help in the declaration of a disaster area. (It) helps push the additional aid,” he said.
The American Red Cross, working alongside village mayors, provided emergency assistance items Saturday. These included tarps, flashlights, coolers, cleaning kits and other supplies. Hofmann said about 780 kits were prepared. By Sunday morning, the Joint Information Center announced that supplies were no longer available.
When The Guam Daily Post spoke to Hofmann on Monday morning, he was at the Sinajana gym preparing supplies. He said 49 pallets of aid had arrived and more were coming.
Sinajana is essentially acting as a staging area, where supplies are prepared for distribution to four points on the island, according to Hofmann. Village mayors then pick up supplies at those distribution points to hand out to their constituents.
Trucks have been rolling in with supplies from FEMA and the Red Cross, Hofmann said.
“These are coolers, tarps, batteries, the cleaning kits, rakes and shovels, (and) other things,” he said.
Just like the distribution over the weekend, Hofmann said the incoming supplies were intended for those who had lost everything to Mawar. That means people whose homes were destroyed, which is defined as a total loss of structure, the structure being not economically feasible to repair, or a complete failure of major structural components (e.g. collapsed basement walls or foundation, or collapsed walls or roof).
“By them getting that kit, and the mayor taking their name and their address, (the) Red Cross will do a follow-up for further assistance,” Hofmann said.
He added that residents who meet the criteria to receive aid can call their mayors for information on supplies.
Criticism of typhoon response
Adelup published a release Sunday night stating that Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero and Lt. Gov. Josh Tenorio met with the mayors’ council and senior FEMA officials that day.
“Today’s meeting was critical to ensuring the island’s mayors had the opportunity to speak directly with FEMA officials about ongoing recovery efforts and needs within their villages,” Leon Guerrero stated Sunday in the release.
“Our mayors are among our first responders and know their residents best,” she added. “I want to thank them for keeping our people safe through Mawar and for leading recovery efforts forward.”
Piti Mayor Jesse Alig, MCOG president, did not attend that meeting, but said “livid is not the word anymore” to describe his feelings over how the post-typhoon response is being handled.
“I wasn’t in there … because why am I going to go back? We have been meeting since pre-storm. It is five days into this recovery and there’s no heavy equipment and there’s no chainsaw (for mayors). FEMA’s on island? What the hell are they doing?” Alig told the Post on Monday morning.
“You don’t see (the Department of Public Works) anywhere. (Guam Solid Waste Authority) was supposed to open at 9 o’clock this morning for all the mayors for two weeks (at) no charge. My guys are there. I have screenshots of the time. They cannot open yet because they’re not prepared. … I’m telling my residents to dump it on Route 1,” the mayor added.
A JIC release Monday afternoon stated that DPW had worked to clear debris on major roadways following Mawar’s passage, allowing for a quick response from the government of Guam and FEMA to conduct damage assessments. DPW continued to remove debris throughout the island, the release stated.
Meanwhile, GSWA has stated it will be collecting trash for all residents for the next two weeks, registered or not, free of charge. Residents who do not have trash carts must make sure that all trash is bagged or placed in a personal trash container and placed curbside for collection.
Construction debris and green waste will not be accepted for collection, however, with the agency stating only that “another agency” will be responsible for collecting that trash.
Green waste disposal
Green waste disposal has also been a major issue for mayors.
Around noon Monday, JIC was still pending a complete list of operational sites for green waste disposal at villages.
Adelup spokesperson Krystal Paco-San Agustin said Saturday that Adelup was preparing to announce those sites.
Mayors said island residents weren’t waiting, and that some were dropping off green waste at staging areas identified in years past.
Alig told the Post on Monday morning that a site in Piti was full and there was no security. It seemed there were some Guam National Guard personnel on site by the afternoon, however.
“(Guam) Environmental Protection Agency is supposed to give me a notice of violation. I want them to give me a notice of violation,” he said. “Then I’m going to take it and send it back.”
Hofmann, who did attend Sunday’s meeting with the governor and lieutenant governor, said the Guam National Guard had been activated to provide security and ensure proper disposal at green waste dumping sites in villages. But as of Monday morning, he too was still waiting for Guard personnel to arrive.
Paco-San Agustin said Monday morning that security at the sites was still being finalized. Guam Guard spokesperson Mark Scott said in the afternoon that they were getting troops out as quickly as possible and would be at the sites soon, if they were not there already.
“Green waste is a high priority as it protects our water lens from illegal dumping,” Scott said.
Hofmann said self-haulers should only dump green waste at dump sites – no household goods, metal or other debris.
“That’s a different trash stream that FEMA is trying to resolve and work on,” he added.
By around 4:25 p.m. Monday, JIC issued a release on green waste disposal, listing 18 sites for residential green waste disposal between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., seven days a week. The release stated that the sites are only for green waste, vegetative waste and yard trimmings.
‘Perfect storm of chaos’
Hofmann also said there seems to be some kind of congestion between money, contracting and a need for fuel for heavy equipment for mayors.
“It’s the perfect storm of, ‘I can’t get a hold of my work operator or the gas for my heavy equipment, and I can’t do that.’ That’s one end of that. The other issue we had, it’s the same thing we’re having with (Guam Power Authority) and (Guam Waterworks Authority). They’re having a hard time contacting (us). We’re having a hard time contacting (them),” Hofmann said.
He added that mayors had asked to meet with general managers for the power and water authorities and some members of the Consolidated Commission on Utilities to get better answers on the response time for utilities, although he acknowledged that some areas are having their power restored.
Alig had said that heavy equipment requests were being made to Guam Homeland Security/Office of Civil Defense, and mayors were told that purchase orders were being made. Any chainsaws that mayors were using were equipment they already had, he added.
When asked to gauge the speed of the response, Hofmann said it was the “perfect storm of chaos” due to issues with fuel and communications, and a lack of water at villages.
“That’s something that’s never happened in previous storms that I’ve experienced,” Hofmann said.
He described the recovery experience as having become a big “clusterf—,” a word Alig had also used.
Hofmann said there was no “real immediate way to make decisions or intervene” because the government doesn’t control entities such as fuel stations and communication companies.
“So that became (an issue). … We were prepared for what we were thinking of what will be a normal typhoon for us. But this typhoon ended up being a very wet typhoon. It sat on us very long. So it kind of just hit all of these things,” Hofmann said.
Mayor’s office staff member Jason Timothy uses a hose to fill residents’ water bottles Sunday in Mangilao.