WASHINGTON, D.C. – Guam is still recovering from the damage Super Typhoon Mawar left behind. Guam’s congressional Delegate Jim Moylan (R- GUAM) is introducing legislation he believes will help with the reconstruction efforts. The legislation would also help the island prepare for the next big storm.
“From this experience it brought up a lot,” said Congressman Moylan. “A lot dealing with our infrastructure and the resilience to bring it back and make it even stronger.”
Moylan said Super Typhoon Mawar hit the island hard this past summer. It damaged critical sites like the hospital, airport, homes and DOD facilities, just to name a few. While agencies continue to clean up what Mawar left behind, Moylan said they need to be prepared for the next big storm.
“We need to get this done quickly because of the INDOPACOM (Indo-Pacific Command) and with the Communist Chinese Party and we don’t know when the next storm will hit either,” said Moylan. “We have so much damage that was done from Mawar that put us back on our bases, that put us back on our utilities. Now let’s learn from this experience.”
He’s recently introduced legislation called the “Typhoon Mawar Reconstruction Act”. Moylan said it would allow FEMA to use existing federal dollars and resources to repair damaged infrastructure from Mawar.
“It will help our hospital, it will help our electrical grid, our communications, wastewater, cyber security and other infrastructures,” said Moylan. “For example the power line was going from one village to the other village and is damaged and swinging on the telephone pole and we’re gonna put it back up that way? Oh okay. No let’s not. Let’s put it under ground, let’s make it more resilient.”
Right now this legislation has only been introduced in the House but if passed, Moylan believes this legislation will expedite Guam’s recovery process.
“Build the resilience for our infrastructure, build it for the water, the power, the communication issues that we were hit, communications especially and utilities as well for the civilian population for the local folks, but also for Department of Defense facilities.”
Moylan adds the legislation will also includes repairs for Saipan. The Department of Defense told Guam News Now it’s against their policy to comment on proposed or pending legislation. FEMA told Guam News Now they don’t comment on proposed legislation but they support helping Guam rebuild faster, stronger and safely.
