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FROM THE FIELD

Samoa tsunami: Aidworker diary
06 Oct 2009 16:56:55 GMT
 Source: Oxfam GB - UK
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On Wednesday 30 September a huge 8.3 magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami that hit the Southern coasts of Samoa and American Samoa causing widespread destruction. Oxfam aid worker Janna Hamilton arrived in Samoa 48 hours after the devastating tsunami struck. Here she writes about her first days. Photos taken by Jane Ussher.

When I first arrived in Apia, there were no signs of the devastation. The capital was buzzing as usual.

Driving south the road was full of cars and pick-ups laden with bags of clothing, bread and bottled water. Family members and friends, or those just wanting to help, were all heading down to the southern coastline where entire villages have been wiped out.

We travelled with our Samoan partner organisation, Women in Business Development (WIBDI), to make an initial assessment of the urgent needs, to identify the most vulnerable people and to determine the most effective way Oxfam’s humanitarian expertise can support the relief effort.

Clearly, the supply of safe water and sanitation is critical in the immediate aftermath of disaster and our engineers, Dave Neru and Nick Hewer-Hewitt have swung into action.

Already, since the morning of the tsunami, WIBDI have been delivering drinking water, shoes, clothes, Fala Lilii (mats), sleeping bags and boxes of tinned fish to the families who lost their homes. Oxfam has already sent through funds to replenish these relief items and coordination of the distribution is now being managed through the National Disaster Management Office here in Apia. To make sure no one misses out, it’s essential that the delivery of aid is now managed from this one distribution point, and details of who received what are recorded.

Scenes of devastation

I’ve been along this devastated south coast several times now, delivering supplies - and hearing the stories of tragedy, loss and extraordinary heroism.

Piliilagi Leuluaialii, 57 years from Saleaaumea village [Photo credit: Jane Ussher/Oxfam]
Piliilagi Leuluaialii, 57 years from Saleaaumea village [Photo credit: Jane Ussher/Oxfam]
Standing beside the foundations of what was her home in Saleaaumea village, Piliilagi Leuluaialii, 57, tells me her story.

Pili lost her sister and one of her five sons. Her sister had had a stroke and when they saw the wave coming, her son tried to carry his aunt to safety, but both of them were killed.

“Water just came in so quickly and they weren’t able to take my sister out of the house.”

Villagers, friends and family from Apia are now busy, cleaning up and burning debris.

“When I could see the wave coming, I was just so scared and started running up behind the village - I don’t know what happened once the wave hit me.”

Pili wants to build in the same place again, but doesn’t know how she’ll find the money.

Where once stood ‘fales’, traditional Samoan houses, only the rectangular foundations are left. Twisted corrugated roofs are strewn for hundreds of metres, beaten cars are upturned and filled with mud and debris. A truck is smashed up in the coconut plantation and a child’s schoolbag lies beside the road.

The smell of fish rotting in the heat, 300 metres inland from the shoreline is overwhelming. Helicopters are flying overhead, searching for people who remain missing.  People tell us the rocks that were once the sea walls built along the coastline did a lot of the damage to people. They are now scattered all across properties.

Our Samoan partners

Women in Business Development have strong ties to these local families. They operate in 150 rural villages across Samoa, supporting a range of community-based projects aimed at creating sustainable village economies and revitalising the agricultural sector.

 

Janna and members of Women in Business speaking with displaced families living in makeshift shelters [Photo credit: Jane Ussher/Oxfam]
Janna and members of Women in Business speaking with displaced families living in makeshift shelters [Photo credit: Jane Ussher/Oxfam]
Here on the south coast of Upolu, WIBDI has provided agricultural training and business skills support to farmers who earlier this year secured a valuable contract - the exclusive supply of organic coconut oil to The Body Shop International. These farmers also grow organic bananas and taro sold at an organics market in Apia that WIBDI established two years ago.

Along this coastline are other small family businesses that got off the ground through WIBDI’s successful micro-finance loan scheme. For many, they will need to start again from scratch.

“They are too scared to come back at the moment,” Visor Auvele, WIBDI staff member tells me. “Some say they will never rebuild by the sea, they wouldn’t be able to sleep listening to the rumble of the crashing waves.” 

Oxfam’s rapid assessment team

Oxfam’s rapid assessment team is working closely with the Samoan authorities, UN agencies and other non-government organisations to ensure a coordinated relief effort - one that has a complete picture of people’s needs, and that makes sure every person is accounted for.

Samoans have always had a strong sense of community, which comes from their strong sense of culture, and traditions of collective support. The local matai/chiefs are providing leadership at the village level and I can feel the incredible spirit here. For those with family to take them in, they are being well supported. Oxfam is working with all agencies involved to make sure the most vulnerable people are able to recover and begin to rebuild their lives.

In between delivering relief items, I attend coordination meetings in Apia with all the agencies working on the ground. At this early stage of the response, it appears coordination, decision-making and goodwill is strong. Once the initial urgent needs have been met, it is clear people will require long-term support for reconstruction of their homes and livelihoods.

Being here, in Samoa, heightens my sense of family - and my connection, not just with New Zealand but with all Pacific communities. Please help our efforts to support these people overcome their grief and rebuild their lives.

Finding displaced families

It is five days since the tsunami decimated the coastline of Upolu. The government of Samoa has requested that all foreign aid agencies and media stay away from the disaster areas today so that the people can gather together in private and attend their makeshift church services.

Samoans are famous for their melodious church singing and it can be heard throughout the capital, Apia, this morning. Women and young children wander past in stunning white church clothes and bright white shoes.

Two hours south on the scarred coastline, people sit on the foundations of what were once their homes, resting from the massive clean-up job. Plumes of smoke rose from the piles of burning rubbish.

Dozens of police are grid-searching the debris, continuing to look for missing people.  Two bodies are pulled from the rubble, 8 more remain missing. The death toll from the tsunami now stands at 134, with 316 injured.

Oxfam’s water engineers travel inland with local health officials and Red Cross along rough dirt roads that wind up into the taro and coconut plantations. The team is searching for displaced families, helping to ensure the most vulnerable people don’t miss out on the supply of essential aid. We come across families who are tucked away off the road under tarpaulin shelters. They say they are too afraid to come back down the coast.

Many of the children have infected wounds from being battered by the waves, as well as mosquito bites covering their entire bodies after moving into the plantations. Health officials are recording names and locations to urgently alert medical relief personnel.  

All along the damaged coast when I speak with those affected, they say they will build their new homes inland. The challenge that lies ahead is constructing these villages and ensuring people have all of the essential services needed to rebuild their lives. Oxfam is co-leading the coordination between the Samoan government and UN agencies to ensure communities will have access to clean water and sanitation.

Delivering supplies

Exhausted faces wait for us at the pick-up point for emergency supplies. Recovery staff and volunteers have been based above Lalomanu village, registering and distributing essentials for five days now. Working with Women in Business Development (WIBDI), we deliver tarpaulins and drinking water to Satitoa and Ulutongia villages. Thirty-six families from Ulutongia - more than 300 people - are now living in makeshift shelters at the primary school, 300 metres back from the sea.

The traditional village council system is being used to ensure everyone is looked after. We give the drinking water and tarpaulins to the village matai or chiefs, who distribute them to individual families.

The bigger picture

Oxfam is coordinating international humanitarian assistance in the water, sanitation, and hygiene sectors to assure that people’s needs are met within commonly-agreed international standards.

Through WIBDI, Oxfam is engaging with all other national and international stakeholders in the early recovery, food security, and livelihood sectors.

Oxfam New Zealand


More from the Oxfam Press Office at http://www.oxfam.org.uk/news


[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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Last updated:Tue Oct 6 17:14:48 2009