After going to Roosevelt Island, New York and Normandie to examine the damage caused by the Qhichwa Earthquake and talk to the fishermen and women whose jobs were lost due to the earthquake, President Blythe and Vice President Underwood returned to the Presidential Mansion for a 2 hours meeting with the President's newly established Commission on the Qhichwa Earthquake Assistance and Recovery.

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Membership

Donald B. Blythe Jr., President
Francis J. Underwood, Vice President
David Q. Rasmussen, Secretary of State
Charles F. Carnegie, Chancellor of the Exchequer
Joseph P. Irving, Secretary of Defense
Hannah F. Buchanan, Secretary of Transportation  
Magdalena Nielsen, Secretary of Health and Social Services
Merriam E. Gutzwiller, Governor of the Bzerne National Bank
Herbert Merle, Chief of the Defence Staff
Robert J. Schlesinger, Commander of the Bzerneleg Northeastern Command
Lauren M. Chandler, Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency

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PRESIDENT BLYTHE: Good afternoon, everybody. As you already know, I have established the Commission on the Qhichwa Earthquake Assistance and Recovery to help the management of our disaster relief and assistance process Let's start with the damage assessment of the Qhichwa Earthquake..

FEMA DIRECTOR CHANDLER: Mr. President, a team of 100 FEMA experts are currently in Qhichwa and have finished the damage assessment report along with information provided by the Qhichwa government. The level of damage we're seeing in Qhichwa right now is unprecedented and very high, the people there currently do not have access to power, telephone and internet services are currently unavailable due to the damage of the lines. All residential and governmental buildings suffered serious structural damage and the government is now relocated to the Mamaqaqa International Airport. With this much damage, I would say the full recovery process would be from 6 months to less than 2 years, but it can be faster than that if more countries participate in the disaster relief mission. 

PRESIDENT BLYTHE: Thank you Director Chandler. Can other members of the Commission brief me on their work progress?

VICE PRESIDENT UNDERWOOD: Mr. President, I have had a meeting with parliamentary leaders and told them that we are going to stay in Qhichwa for quite a while. With the unbelievable level of damage and destruction in Qhichwa, we can't afford to stand by and watch, and it will definitely take as Director Chandler said, more than 6 months, so that's why I have worked with Chancellor Carnegie to get votes for the Appropriations for the Qhichwa Recovery Assistance Act which passed yesterday, and now we are having 300 billion Franc that we can use to fund the Operation.

SECRETARY OF STATE RASMUSSEN: Mr. President, I have directed the Assistant Secretary of State for Northeastern Affairs George Forsberg to co-head Operation Amicus and be in charge with the civilian part of the operation. A letter about Ambassador to Sedunn's death and the appointment of a new ambassador to the Sedunnic Foreign Minister is underway. We are currently staying in contact with Qhichwa officials to assist with the disaster relief mission.

CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER: We currently have 300 billion Franc more to fund Operation Amicus and other activities, however I would recommend not spending that money right now because we are having enough money to sustain the operations until next year and so it would be considered as reckless and irresponsible spending if we pour in excessive amount of money and would contribute to a budget deficit.

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE IRVING: I appointed earlier today Commander of our South Pacific Northeastern Command Schlesinger, who is here today and will depart for Qhichwa in the evening, to head Operation Amicus with Assistant Secretary of State for Northeastern Affairs George Forsberg and be in charge of military units currently stationed in Qhichwa. Our priority right now is to save as many lives as possible, therefore we've directed 2000 troops to do search and rescue missions, 1000 to build temporary shelters and hospital camps and another 2000 to help with providing civilians with the aid that we're bringing in, setting up generators around the country and providing access to clean water.

SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION BUCHANAN: We are currently working with private construction companies to help us with rebuilding Qhichwa's infrastructure after the search and rescue missions are done and the country's ready for reconstruction. We have offered the Qhichwa government assistance to help them formulate better building regulations in the future so that there will not be any kind of damage happening in the future like this.

SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES NIELSEN: The Department is currently working with the Armed Forces to provide healthcare services for Qhichwanians on naval ships and delivering medical equipments to Qhichwa. In order to serve more civilians, I'd like to ask the Chief of the Defence Staff if we could use their military transport aircraft for healthcare purposes.

CHIEF OF THE DEFENCE STAFF MERLE: To answer Secretary Buchanan's question, the Air Force is able to fly 18 Boeing C-17 Globemaster III aircraft to Qhichwa with all medical necessities on board. Mr. President,  our troops are currently working really hard in their search and rescue missions, though there is no detailed information as to how many have they found but they are collaborating with troops from other countries to save as many lives as possible. 

GOVERNOR OF THE BZERNE NATIONAL BANK GUTZWILLER: Mr. President, I'm a little bit worried that with this big amount of foreign aid to Qhichwa, there is going to be a higher risk of hyperinflation. The earthquake makes it harder for the Qhichwanian government to collect tax revenue, and a sharp decrease in real tax revenue coupled with a strong need to maintain government spending, together with an inability to borrow or an increase in the money supply, can lead the country into hyperinflation. I suggest that we keep an eye on the Qhichwanian economy and cooperate with competent officials on their side to prevent their economy from uncontrollable inflation, which will be bad for all of us.