Supporter: Carol Ward

Photo: Carol Ward/Mercy Corps

We started our cash-for-work programme yesterday, alongside our partners from South Pacific Business Development (SPBD), in Samoan villages that were devastated by the recent tsunami. Local workers are earning a fair daily wage — which helps their families and puts money back into the economy — while helping to clear debris, restore and rebuild their homes and villages.

In Lepuiai — the village pictured above — they can use the rocks from the old sea walls, together with stone that is nearby, to help rebuild infrastructure. So that is not too bad.

The other village, Faleu, has a bit more work to do — they have to carry the stones down the hill from a quarry where other workers are busy pulling rocks from the hillside and breaking them. They know that their village depends on them to do a good job because this is cyclone season, and a storm could further erode the foundations of the houses that still stand and break the road running between the two villages.

Everyone is working so hard!

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Staff from South Pacific Business Development, Mercy Corps' local partner, pack relief supplies for delivery to poor women who lost everything in last week's tsunami. Photo: Carol Ward/Mercy Corps

In order to bury and mourn those who died in the tsunami on September 29, today was designated a half-day national holiday by the Government of Western Samoa. This meant that the staff at South Pacific Business Development, our local partner, had a lot to do. In addition to their normal work of servicing the loans made to poor business women, they purchased items for relief packages and made the arrangements for distributing them tomorrow to women who were severely affected by the tsunami.

In the meantime, we have been working out the details of a public works programme that we hope to initiate — if we can find funding. We expect that temporary employment would reintroduce cash flows into beneficiary communities, help to revitalise local markets and restore basic economic functions. There will be an Early Recovery Coordination meeting tomorrow, where we hope to discuss our plans with other agencies like the Red Cross, to avoid duplication of efforts and harmonise details.

I went to the bank today to change money and found that the U.S. dollar has fallen against the Western Samoan Tala for the third day in a row. This will make all our programmes relatively more expensive. As this is an island where almost everything is imported, making things very pricey. I was shocked to find that a wheelbarrow costs about U.S. £150!

Right, I had better get back to helping people pack things up!

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Matelana stands with two of her five children on the site where her house once stood in the village of Salesatele, Samoa. Photo: Carol Ward/Mercy Corps

On September 29, a tsunami hit the southeast coast of Samoa. More than a hundred and forty people were killed — for a population of only 185,000 people, that is devastating.

Today I went out with our local partner, South Pacific Business Development (SPBD), to see how their microfinance clients had been affected. I was able to see how the impact of the wave has destroyed the livelihoods of thousands of people — ripping through the lightly-built homes, carrying their possessions away and smashing the fishing boats that were a means of earning income. Many people who earned their living from the tourist trade, by working in hotels or selling products to tourists, have been badly affected because three of the local beach resorts were in the most affected area.

In the village of Salesatele we met with Matelana, mother of five children, on the very spot where —just last week — her house stood. She and many of her neighbors fled for high ground to avoid the rushing waters, but returned to find almost everything they had worked so hard for had been destroyed.

Over the coming weeks, they will be trying to rebuild their homes and their livelihoods. We will be here to help them.

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