Pacific / Northern Marianas

Warning school and uni rebuilds in CNMI could take years

17:00 pm on 28 January 2019

Thirty-two temporary education facilities have been completed in the Northern Marianas but officials warn the construction of permanent facilities for the Public School System and the local university may take a few years to rebuild.

A school building is damaged after Super Typhoon Yutu Photo: RNZ Pacific / Mark Rabago

The Temporary Emergency Tent and Roof Installation Support programme plans to rebuild nearly 500 roofs that were damaged during Typhoon Yutu which hit the islands three months ago.

The programme also plans to erect 1,900 tents on Saipan and Tinian by the time it wraps up in the coming weeks.

There are currently 89 people staying at the Kagman Emergency Shelter Facility, the lone operating shelter on Saipan.

Immediately after the storm there were over 1,000.

Meanwhile, power restoration is continuing on Saipan with 88 percent of the island now having access to power.

Tinian has 65 percent of power restored.