APIA: 18 December 2012 --
Dear Friends,
Thank you for your concern, your emails, and your
prayers. Finally, I am back on the internet after
several days.
We are all safe and well. All the Salesians and the
Salesian Sister
are safe. None of the works belonging to the Salesians
or the Salesian
Sisters has been seriously damaged. There is some flood
and wind
damage to most places but it is not of a serious nature.
I have yet to
be able to inspect the workshops at Don Bosco Technical Centre
in
Alafua. However, there is little structural
damage. There is probably
some damage to some of the machinery but it may take some time
before
this is fully assessed.
The island of Upolu was the hardest hit by Cyclone Evan.
Savai’i seems
to have been spared the worst of the cyclone. The
capital Apia seems
to have been the hardest hit. In some villages (suburbs)
in the
capital the damage has been absolutely devastating. The
hardest hit
were villages along the river, where there was massive
flooding caused
by torrential rain. The wind damage in Apia is also
extensive. The
trees on the mountain have been stripped on their leaves and
the
mountain appears as only a shadow it its former self.
Caritas Samoa
has been at the forefront of relief efforts, with the
distribution of
food, water and materials.
There is still almost no power on Upolu. However, it
does appear that
a few small localised areas now have some power
restored. The process
of restoring power is likely to be very extended as the damage
to
electrical infrastructure is so extensive. The problem
the people now
face is lack of water. Many villages inside and outside
the capital
are without water. Here in Leauvaa we have mains water at the
residence
for some reason but only at two stand pipes one outside the
house and
the other outside the hall. Local families have formed a
queue this
morning to get water from our place. There has been an
official
announcement that the water is not likely to be restored for
two weeks.
Despite everything the people remain remarkably resilient,
despite the
cancelation across the island of celebrations in preparation
for
Christmas. There is traditionally 7 or 8 days of
communal carols and
related festivities in preparation for Christmas. But
these have been
almost universally cancelled because of the lack of power and
the need
for ongoing clean-up efforts.
Everywhere the damage to the crops has been extensive,
especially the
bananas and the breadfruit both of which are staples.
The bananas will
re-generate within a couple of months but the breadfruit crop
is
completely destroyed for the season. There are too many
large
up-rooted breadfruit trees to count and this will have an
impact for
some years to come. Almost every family in Samoa relies
on subsistence
farming to some extent. Each family has access to at
least some land
on which the grow vegetables, taro (a key staple that has
survived the
worse of the damage), bananas, coconuts, etc. This is
essential for
most families to ensure that they have a constant food supply.
The farmers who rely on their production for their basic
income have
been particularly hard hit. The destruction of the crops
is
heartbreaking. But the farmers were all out in the
plantations as soon
as they could to cut back the bananas so that they will sprout
as soon
as possible.
There is still almost no fishing. The canoes have not
yet ventured out
onto the lagoon despite several days of calm weather
now. I understand
that the fish stocks have been seriously affected and that it
may take
some time to repopulate the key fishing areas as the fish have
been
driven away or have sort shelter in deeper water.
The destruction of the crops will have a long term impact upon
food
supplies. While people are now surviving on bananas and
breadfruit
salvaged from the plantations, the crunch will come as the new
year
approaches and food supplies run short for many
families. Very few
families have cash reserves, so any money they do have will be
used for
food, thus reducing their spending capacity for other
necessities. 25%
of Samoan families already experience “basic needs poverty”,
which
means that while they have access to food from their
plantations, they
do not have sufficient money for transportation, health care,
education, clothing, communications, etc. With still not
water and an
expected increase in the price of food, the medium term impact
will
have reduced cash capacity for most families.
The longer term impact will be the flow-on effect of the
reduced cash
capacity of families. In a country where thousands of
children do not
return to school at the beginning of the new academic year in
February,
it is highly probable that the school retention rate will
reduce
further because of lack of cash as well as the need for family
labour
to work on the plantations, which is one factor having a
negative
impact of school retention rates. It is highly likely
that there will
be reduced enrolments at our Technical Centre in Apia and that
the fee
payment rate will decrease.
The Don Bosco Samoa Project Development Office had planned to
launch an
Educational Sponsorship Fund for 2013. We will be
continuing with this
fundraising initiative, which is now all the more important
because of
the longer term impact of Cyclone Evan.
