Report from Samoa

The devastation of Satitoa

Latest news from Satitoa - 2/12/2009

Allan MacGibbon reports –

SITUATION REPORT – SATITOA - SITREP-3 091201 Satitoa

As at:   2 Dec 09 1915

1.         GENERAL

A watershed day and a day when “humbled” was indeed the word.

The good thing is that I believe we have a solution and one that does meet all the expectations.

Excellent assistance again from NZAID and the Samoan Disaster Management Office (DMO) not to mention the ongoing and focused support of Amatanga Penaia.

Tonight the beer is good…

2.         COMMUNICATIONS                                     

Personal cell phone now sorted.  Confirmed full coverage at Satitoa, Samoa has better coverage than NZ!!

Internet down last night and again this morning so unable to send SITREP 2.  That now sent this is the update.

3.         BRIEF

3.1        NZ HI COMM/NZAID      Helen Leslie organised an assistant to take me to the DMO.  Extremely worthwhile.  Confirmed that schools and personal houses are all taken care of as are infrastructural issues. The DMO has  recommended that duty etc be waived however we may have to pay on the Generator if it stays.

The focus is housing, infrastructure and schools.  The DMO supported the idea of assisting the church but did note the uneven support and suggested a wider community focus if at all possible.

I have a meeting at 0830 tomorrow (Wed 2 Dec) with Helen Leslie to discuss my visit to Satitoa today.  This will give me a chance to bounce some ideas off her and assist in respect to our call at 1215 tomorrow.

3.2        Satitoa Visit     Armatanga and I drove to Satitoa to meet with his father, the local High Chief.  His name is Te’o Uiva (weaver) Simi (Jimmy).  I also toured the whole village and took plenty of photos – a selection has been sent.

The upshot of the visit is that Satitoa is probably one of the worse affected areas as it is very low and quite deep in terms of its distance from the sea and as a result a good deal of it was destroyed.  The village starts right next to another village and ends next to yet another one.  The dividing line being a couple of small streams.

The tsunami struck in a random manner with a couple of islands saving a good deal of the neighbouring villages. 

With Satitoa there were three churches in the village, there is now one.  Amazingly the Catholic church was hardly touched due to trees and a large concrete wall in from – I suspect there will be a few claiming divine intervention but I think luck played a major role in this event..

Both the LMS and Methodist churches were destroyed along with most of the Village.

I met with Te’o and he gave me a great brief on the situation.  His house is right on the beach and was hit full on but the shell (reinforced concrete) survived.  It was emptied of everything and basically all windows, doors and furnishings where washed out the front into the village.

Te’o’s family had a miraculous escape leaving by car as the wave actually struck.  The car behind them was hit and four people died.  The Village lost 15 people all of whom have been accounted for.

Our discussions centred on what we proposed and how we might turn that into a community benefit rather than an LMS benefit.  He is quite comfortable as the LMS minister’s house was also the community (all religions) preschool.

He has proposed that we should proceed on the basis that the building would serve as a temporary church for the LMS (as proposed) operated as the preschool during the school week, run as before by the LMS minister and his wife who are teachers, and when the new churches are built it become the LMS residence and Preschool.  This is as it was previously.

I have asked to meet again with all the elders and church leaders and the Mayor (who is appointed by Te’o), the aim is to gauge the level of comfort and to see if I can get a consensus.  Te’o believes we will and judging from what I saw and heard I believe we will as well.

The only issue will be location and we may have to move an old foundation – I spotted a couple of diggers working on the wharf so should be able to get that done tomorrow and Thursday ready for the weekend – if we get agreement.

Armatanga took no part in the discussions as he is actually affiliated to the neighbouring village.  Of note is that Te’o is a Methodist….

4.         CONTAINER

All sorted, just have to confirm transport for Friday or Saturday.

5.         MONEY

Thanks.

6.         SUMMARY

I believe we have a solution that is a win win and will confirm after my 3 pm meeting.

I will meet with Helen Leslie prior to our teleconference at 1215.  I believe we are close to saying go, the outstanding issues once I get agreement on the proposal – subject to our discussions tomorrow at 1215 – will be the container arriving and location of the building.

I have to say that I felt rather numb today and totally inadequate however I believe this will help these people as it will be the first new building in the old village and the desire, from both local leadership and the DMO, is to get people back into the villages..  Its about normality I guess but that’s a long way off, we will help that and create a focus..

My comment regarding the need to recognise that the villages that were, are essentially changed forever and may not be villages in the future, still has validity however the effort is to try to pull people back together and NZAID and the DMO both think what we are doing is worth it.

6.1        Teleconference           I will be in my hotel room at 1215.

I have dealt with some pretty tough stuff in my time and this is right up there.  I have been very impressed with the Samoan Govt response and the NZ response. 

Most of all I am impressed with the resilience of the people.  That said there is a real feeling of loss in the air and many are visably traumatised.  I past one grave site today with three people sitting under a blue tarp watching over it, I also saw a number of heart felt messages painted on trees and old foundations to lost loved ones. 

This was a true tragedy.

Allan MacGibbon