 Following the passage of the typhoon in the Ailinglaplap Atoll in the Marshall Islands , residents experienced severe food shortages due to damaged crops and little rainfall . Experts estimated the entire redevelopment of its fauna would require more than a decade . As a result of the crop shortage , large @-@ scale evacuations of the islands ' residents were considered . Officials in the nation requested assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the United States , and on March 20 , 1998 , the area was declared a disaster area ; the declaration allowed for the usage of emergency funds . 
