Response to Super Typhoon Yutu

Characterized as the strongest storm to impact any part of the United States since 1935, category 5 Super Typhoon Yutu devastated the Northern Mariana Islands on October 24, 2018, leaving severe destruction to infrastructure services and hundreds of families displaced or homeless. Electricity and water services were cut off for weeks, ports in and out of the CNMI were closed for over 2 weeks due to extensive damage, and the entire territory prioritized response & recovery.

As hundreds of families, including many women and children, took refuge in public schools turned into disaster shelters immediately following the storm, MCHB prioritized plans for reaching MCH populations. Outreach to families displaced in shelters throughout the islands of Saipan and Tinian included distribution of hygiene kits and cribs to families with infants with no safe space to sleep. In addition, staff of MCH Bureau Programs were instrumental in assessing the needs of families and linking them to services such as prenatal care, vaccines and flu shots, family planning, other needed medical care.

Prompt response to the needs of the MCH population displaced due to the Super Typhoon Yutu would not have been possible without the resiliency and determination of the CNMI Title V staff, whom many of which endured the same traumatic experience and loss as those served.