Pacific / Northern Marianas

$US9.3m in disaster food stamps for CNMI

20:16 pm on 23 January 2019

Households on Saipan and Tinian in the Northern Marianas received nearly $US10 million in food benefits after Super Typhoon Yutu.

Photo: RNZ Pacific/ Mark Rabago

More than $US9.3 million in post-disaster food stamps were given to over 15,000 households on the CNMI islands which were hit by the storm in October.

However, not everyone who applied for the Disaster Nutritional Assistance Program qualified.

One hundred and fifty-eight applications were denied due to excess income or excess resources, according to the CNMI authorities.

Of those, 140 were households on Saipan and 18 were on Tinian.

The last of the government aid was distributed on Saturday.

Assistance included ready-to-eat meals, mosquito nets, cooking utensils, sanitary and first aid kits and baby formula.