Super Typhoon Sinlaku: What to know, How you can help

Photo credit: NASA

My island home was just walloped by Typhoon Sinlaku with 150 mph winds and as much as 25 inches of rain. My colleagues at CAP and I want to point out that, yes, now is the time to talk about climate change and just published a column: Climate Change Is Here—and America’s Most Marginalized Communities Are on the Front Lines (NOT PUBLISHED YET, WILL PUBLISH WEDNESDAY MORNING EST).

But I am safe in Washington, DC watching on my computer screen and phone. Our coalition partners with the Friends of the Mariana Trench on Saipan and Micronesia Climate Change Alliance in Guam, not to mention my friends and family across the islands, are living this disaster in real time and I want to share some ways that we can help them, and our community.

One of the most important things you can do is to try to bring attention to the disaster with your social media. You can share the CAP article linked above, but you can also share reputable news coverage from national outlets, and you can amplify photos, stories, and updates from our friends living in the Mariana Islands when you see them on your social media. The U.S. territories exist on the margins of American awareness. If people don’t know these islands exist – then they won’t know that they need help.

You can also donate to relief efforts. Our coalition partner Micronesia Climate Change Alliance, who we have worked with for several months to oppose deep sea mining, has started a “Mutual Aid Request for Super Typhoon Sinlaku” and are accepting donations via PayPal.

Another organization that I trust is Ayuda Foundation, a Guam‑based organization with deep experience moving relief supplies throughout Micronesia. It is led by my friend Carlotta Leon Guerrero, a trusted former elected official and long‑time regional conservation leader. Ayuda is working directly with the US Coast Guard and Matson Shipping to move materials where they are needed.

At this time, Ayuda accepts monetary and physical donations by mail:

Ayuda Foundation
181 East Marine Corp Dr.
Carl Rose Building #207
Hagatna, GU 96910

If mailing a physical check is not feasible for you, I am going to send them a check in the coming days. If you would like me to send money on your behalf, you can give me cash or send it to me via Paypal. If you are reading this and know me, you should know how to get a hold of me.

And if you are more comfortable donating to a national organization, American Red Cross has been active on Saipan for decades. While donations cannot be earmarked exclusively for Sinlaku, they enable the Red Cross to mobilize resources for disaster response and recovery.

You can donate by:

• Visiting redcross.org
• Calling 1‑800‑RED‑CROSS
• Mailing a check to your local Red Cross office

Saipan has endured this before. In 2015, Typhoon Soudelor tore across the island, cutting power for months and causing widespread destruction to homes and businesses. Just three years later, in 2018, Super Typhoon Yutu—one of the strongest storms ever recorded to strike U.S. territory—left the island in ruins, destroying or severely damaging homes and collapsing much of the local economy. Recovery from Yutu – made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic – was still incomplete when Sinlaku arrived. 

Sinlaku should end any remaining pretense that climate change is distant or abstract. It is reshaping American lives right now, often in communities with the least political power and the fewest resources to recover. Saipan has now been hit, hard, three times in barely a decade. The question is no longer whether the storms will return. It is whether the United States will finally act as though these communities matter before the next one arrives, and if leaders will keep rebuilding vulnerability or finally build the safer, more resilient communities this era demands.

If you can help, thank you for helping.