We’ve been on the ground in American Samoa for one week and it’s been a busy one…
We’ve traveled to the affected villages and talked with village chiefs, mayors and residents. The highest concentration of damage from the tsunami is in the Village of Amanave (check out video) with around 75 homes destroyed or majorly damaged.
Given the pace of debris removal and clean up we believe that these phases will be completed in the coming weeks through local efforts. Then demolition of damaged but standing structures will begin after new permanent homes are built. Many are using the shell of their damaged homes in the interim as their primary dwelling until they can build a new home.
We’ve met with CRWRC, Mennonite Disaster Services, World Vision, Catholic Charities USA, American Samoa VOAD, and the American Red Cross to share information and talk about the recovery efforts underway and those in the planning stages. We spent a couple of hours Friday helping Catholic Charities and the American Red Cross distribute food and water in Amanave. Distribution sites strategically placed throughout the island have also aided in the collection of needs and data on the affected population.
There may be a need here for both short term and long term case management and project/workflow management, meaning tracking and managing rebuilds and helping individual households.
We’re also exploring the costs and logistics that would be involved with hiring skilled labor with the thinking that we could potentially hire some locals to act as construction managers for unskilled volunteers to be utilized in rebuild effort. The unknown at this point is exactly when the rebuild phase will begin.
We toured a potential volunteer housing site that the Mennonites and CRWRC may get off the ground, and could be open to others like HODR if we set up a project.
Lots going on, lots to keep figuring out. Keep following us on Twitter (HODRopsUSA) and www.HODR.org as we continue in the assessment.
In the meantime you can support our efforts in the Samoan Islands & our recently announced volunteer project in Indonesia in response to the recent earthquakes. If you’re interested in volunteering with us in Indonesia or a potential project in the Samoan Islands, email Tom at info@HODR.org and you can support our work with a donation to our South Pacific Disaster Recovery Fund.