The FCC has activated its Disaster Information Reporting System in response to Super Typhoon Sinlaku’s landfall in the Northern Mariana Islands.
In coordination with FEMA, the reporting system has been activated in the U.S commonwealth, which is located in the western Pacific Ocean, for its islands of Rota, Saipan and Tinian.
The FCC also activated the Mandatory Disaster Response Initiative for the same areas, which means that all facility-based mobile wireless providers must provide reasonable roaming services, mutual aid agreements with other providers, as well as service and restoration status updates to the public.
Super Typhoon Sinlaku, equivalent to a category 5 storm on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale, hit the Northern Mariana Islands for hours before daybreak local time Wednesday, slowing down to cause more damage across Saipan and Tinian, which are home to approximately 50,000 residents. Sinlaku peaked with winds of around 175 miles per hour.
According to NASA, meteorologists noted that the storm is one of only a handful of category 5 typhoons known to have occurred so early in the year.
President Donald Trump approved emergency disaster declarations ahead of the storm for Guam and the Mariana Islands. FEMA said it was coordinating support across multiple agencies, dispatching nearly 100 of its staff as well as other personnel, according to The Associated Press.
The FCC’s DIRS is a web-based system that communications providers, including wireless, wireline, broadcast, cable and VoIP providers, used to report communications infrastructure status and situational awareness information during times of crisis.
[Related: “FCC Launches Effort to Modernize Disaster Reporting”]
