The house where Lahaina Phillip lives with her family has a cracked ceiling after two coconut trees collapsed on her rooftop during the strongest storm of the year to slash through Chuuk, an island state in the Federated States of Micronesia.
Phillip, who lives in Tunnuk, a village in Chuuk Lagoon, is one of thousands of residents affected by the recent Typhoon Sinlaku.
Her house is made of concrete, but that didn't stop water from leaking through her ceiling during the storm. Winds up to 185 mph ripped her window screen from its seal and sent it flying away.
Phillip said the most heartbreaking toll exacted by the storm was the loss of her breadfruit, banana and coconut trees, which were uprooted and may take years to regrow.
She said when road closures prevented her from going to the store for groceries, she had to make do with what she had on hand. She filled her toddler's bottle with juice from coconuts that had fallen in the storm.
"We couldn't buy milk because there was no refrigeration due to the power outage," she said. "I started making her bottle from powdered coffee creamer. She drank that for a week until I was able to get to the stores where I found powdered milk.”
Last month, Typhoon Sinlaku pounded through the western part of the Pacific, hitting Chuuk before the Mariana Islands. The death toll from the storm has risen to 17, with nine fatalities reported in Chuuk, according to Pacific Daily News.
The typhoon has caused widespread power outages, ripped roofs off houses, displaced thousands of residents and destroyed key crops.
Chuuk is no stranger to severe storms, but this one came about a month before the start of typhoon season, and some residents say they've never seen a storm this bad.
"We didn't anticipate how much damage it would cause," Phillip said, "mainly because the initial announcement was that it was just going to be a tropical storm, so many of us didn't stock up on food or supplies beforehand. So many people did not tie down their houses or board up.”
Limited resources
Unlike the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Chuuk doesn't get direct U.S. federal aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to Chuuk officials. That's due to a change in the 2024 revision of the Compacts of Free Association, treaties that the U.S. shares with three island nations: FSM, the Marshall Islands and Palau. Only Micronesians living in the U.S. and its territories, like the CNMI and Guam, qualify for FEMA assistance.
Instead, governments in FSM and Chuuk State, along with United Nations agencies, have been providing aid to the islands.
FSM President Wesley Simina signed an emergency declaration on April 13 to mobilize recovery efforts.
Chuuk State is the most populous island in FSM with more than 53,000 residents. The state comprises nearly 300 islands, including outer-island atolls.
Government-led relief efforts have faced challenges getting resources to various parts of the island state, including the most rural parts of the outer islands. Roads have been blocked by fallen trees, and the main dock has been damaged and filled with debris.
Bryan Mori, a special assistant to the Governor on Social Affairs in Chuuk, said he estimates damages to homes and crops alone total $96 million.
"We've had a lot of challenges, especially with our port," Mori said. "Our sunken vessels are leaking oil. We're still trying to address that."
Mori said residents need food and water, but the start of El Niño season adds complications like high seas to delivering resources to the most remote islands.
Mori added that officials have been giving between 3-30 days' worth of supplies to residents in need.
"We’re trying our best with what we have," Mori said.
Community taking matters into their own hands
While Lahaina Phillip was stuck inside her home, she was already drafting a campaign on her GoFundMe account to raise money for her community.
As of Monday, Phillip has raised more than $8,000 and was able to purchase rice to feed up to 30 households in her village.
Last week, Phillip saw officials from the Chuuk Public Utility Corporation working on restoring power in her village. She described her excitement on social media as "kids anticipating Santa on Christmas Eve."
More than 3,500 miles from Chuuk, Chuukese in Hawai‘i have been trying to help their families back home. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are more than 10,000 Chuukese living Hawai‘i.
Josie Howard, president and CEO of the Hawai‘i-based nonprofit We Are Oceania, said she's been trying to send chainsaws and fresh water to her family.
"They're going to need financial support to rebuild their houses. They're going to need chainsaws to cut down trees," she said.
Howard grew up experiencing many typhoons in Chuuk and was taught that they're part of the island's ecosystem.
"Typhoons are beings. We don't call them objects," she said.
Before concrete houses were built, Howard said she remembers her family members digging underground vases and making covers out of coconut leaves and sand.
Typhoons are common in Micronesia, and Howard said she's hopeful the community will recover.
"We live on the edge of the ocean, so we're always prone to natural disasters. We know about natural disasters. It's part of our life. It's part of our growing up. We're related to them," Howard said.
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