You don't have contact with the Shi yet, but that's because they've been hidding from you. You can snet people to try to make contact know that you have suspisions about them. You know about but don't really have any contact with the Friscans to the south. As for the reapairs, you could make repairs to the factory that will safely get people on foot across. There is one small workshop on the Island that you can probably get repaired to start making low-tech equipment. I'll get you exact resource costs of each shortly.