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![\"Delegate](\"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/kilili-aug-10.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\u201cI had to tell people to leave their names and register and then come back after an hour or so,\u201d Sablan said, lamenting that immediately after, some parties disseminated misinformation to make it look like the people were being told to \u201cgo away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sablan also cited shelters that are \u201cunacceptable and filthy,\u201d and that through all of these, his plea to federal agencies remain unheard as of yesterday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a lengthy conversation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and with [representatives] in Washington, D.C. and told them that I was very disappointed,\u201d Sablan said.<\/p>\n
He also expressed his dissatisfaction with FEMA, which despite getting thousands of registrants seeking assistance, has failed to conduct visits.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot one home has been visited, which is unacceptable, I will continue to pressure FEMA, of course, our government has its own faults too,\u201d Sablan said.<\/p>\n
One of the changes, according to Sablan, is that the American Red Cross will now receive all FEMA resources\u2014tents, food, and water\u2014and get the resources out to those in need.<\/p>\n
Sablan, however, said FEMA and the federal government promised him a \u201cnew and fresh\u201d start. He added that \u201cnow is not the time for looking at faults, and I am here to extend help as much as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a long and contentious discussion with the federal government and they promised to start fresh,\u201d Sablan said.<\/p>\n
When asked what concerns FEMA had with the apparent confusion, Sablan declined to comment saying that he does \u201cnot want to go in the past, past is past, so let\u2019s focus on the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sablan also clarified that it is his office that made the request to Pacific Command to tap U.S Marines to come to the CNMI to assist.<\/p>\n
Frustrations<\/strong><\/p>\n On Monday, residents went in droves to the designated distribution centers, only to be told that there will be a delay.<\/p>\n The delay lasted hours, and many of the residents had to queue up under the hot sun to get relief goods.<\/p>\n Some of those who queued up\u2014with children in tow\u2014expressed frustrations over the long queues, and the apparent failure of those involved to give the proper information on the actual time that the distribution will take place.<\/p>\n Some expressed frustrations on the actual relief goods that were distributed, saying that \u201cit is not worth making the trip\u201d just to get ready-to-eat food and water contained in boxes, which many mistook for milk.<\/p>\n Direct aid<\/strong><\/p>\n A total of 536 people remain in nine school shelters across the island.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like Saipan in the \u201870s. We are getting our news from the radio like back in the old days,\u201d said Garapan resident Joe Taijeron, legal counsel for the Legislative Bureau assigned to the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n His house withstood the storm, but his family\u2014fianc\u00e9e Jamika and her 6- and 7-year-old sons\u2014are living with no power or water.<\/p>\n \u201cI see a lot of people rebuilding, and there\u2019s a lot of hammering going on at night. Cleanup is so remarkably slow,\u201d said Taijeron. \u201cThere really should be more direct aid to the people, but there isn\u2019t for whatever reason.\u201d (With AP)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There is an urgent need to \u201creboot\u201d the way relief and assistance is being carried…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":207682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[26,493,67,6333],"class_list":["post-207680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-cnmi","tag-fema","tag-people","tag-typhoon-soudelor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}