As AusAID media adviser in Samoa, Lou Anderson witnessed first-hand the impact of the September 29 tsunami. Along with her husband, Matt Anderson, who is Australia's High Commissioner to Samoa, Lou had a unique view of the ways in which Samoans and Australians responded to the disaster. Here, she reflects on the experience of living through the disaster.
During our nearly three years in Samoa, the Anderson family has enjoyed her beautiful, unspoilt beaches, the easy going lifestyle, and friendly, welcoming Samoan hospitality. As a place to work, we are engaged with a country that is stable, secure and relatively prosperous. As a place to live or visit, it truly is one of the best kept secrets in the Pacific.
That all changed on 29 September 2009 when an 8.3 magnitude earthquake hit Samoa, causing a devastating tsunami along a 30 kilometre stretch of the south coast of the main island.
We were woken by the earthquake. By the time it finished, nearly three minutes later, pictures had smashed as they fell from walls, trinkets knocked from shelves and the pool water surged over the edges. From our vantage point high on the hill, the beach and coastline to our north looked unchanged.
Our relief was short lived. Radio announcements sounded tsunami warnings. Within the hour, we had the first casualties being brought into the nearby hospital. Rather ominously, most were Australians.
As Australia's High Commissioner to Samoa, Matt activated the Post's disaster plan before breakfast. The High Commission, at water-level, was off-limits due to the threat of aftershocks, so the 'operations room' was set up at his deputy's kitchen table. Staff were dispatched to the hospitals to help out and gain a sense of the tragedy we suspected was unfolding on the south coast, along beaches we know and love.
Australia provided an initial A$2 million package of support in response to Samoa's request for help immediately following the tsunami. The first Australian teams arrived in Samoa less than 24 hours after the tsunami, along with the second tsunami warning of the day, heightening everyone's anxiety. The Australian teams provided support in two critical areas–treating the injured and searching for survivors.
In all, 114 Australian medical personnel and search and rescue teams deployed to Samoa to assist. They came from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. Disaster experts from the Australian Federal Police (AFP), the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the Emergency Management Authority (EMA), and Australian Defence Force (ADF) swung into action.
In the days after the tsunami, a total of eight flights (either ADF aircraft or commercial charter) brought in more than 30 tonnes of disaster and emergency relief supplies, and evacuated the displaced and wounded.
The support provided by the doctors, nurses, paramedics and public health officers was nothing short of exceptional. There is no doubt that without this assistance, many of the injured would have died in the days following the tsunami.
The teams conducted some 22 aero-medical evacuations (seven Australians, four Germans and 11 New Zealanders), 101 operations, 171 field treatments, 1060 emergency department presentations (many of which would have been classified as surgical procedures in Australia) and 33 public health village assessments.
Search and rescue teams worked with Samoa Police, New Zealand Defence Force engineers and NZ Police cadaver dogs (and, later, NZDF divers) to complete some 550 man-hours of physical search effort over an intensive five-day period.
The AFP Disaster Victim Identification team conducted post-mortem examinations leading to the identification of five Australian nationals, as well as the identification of other nationals and Samoans. Sadly, Matt's team became practised at escorting coffins and grieving families onto flights.
For Matt, the families of the Australian High Commission were the unsung heroes of the relief effort. They were kept busy quietly caring for shell-shocked countrymen and Samoans alike. Clothes were passed on, food prepared, beds offered, comfort given. Nurses volunteered at local hospitals and drove relief supplies up and down the coast. Lunches were made for extended families camped at the hospital bedsides of loved ones.
Within hours of the tsunami and with the growing awareness that so many people had lost everything, our two daughters, Meg (9 years) and Kate (8 years) were madly going through their wardrobes sorting out clothes and toys.
After a very moving national day of mourning and mass burial nine days after the tsunami, people are starting to pick up the pieces. Australia is continuing to support Samoa's longer term recovery efforts, giving an additional A$5 million to support rebuilding and reconstruction of the affected areas.
Unfortunately, the wet season–which sometimes includes cyclones–is almost upon us and the first rains have come. Apart from keeping the High Commission in a state of preparedness for possible future crises, the change in weather is adding to the misery of those who have lost everything and are now living under tarps surrounded by the ruins that the nine metre waves threw up and scarred the coastline. It is estimated there are more than 3,000 people living in tents and under tarpaulins, but they count themselves as the lucky ones. More than 140 people lost their lives.
Samoa's Prime Minister Tuilaepa Lupesoli'ai Sailele Malielegaoi said this about Australia's response:
"Australia's very rapid and timely response in deploying personnel, medical teams, supplies and assets in the immediate aftermath of the Tsunami was critical to the emergency and rescue operation. I would like to convey to the Government and people of Australia, the deepest gratitude of our government and people for the tremendous assistance and support provided by Australia in the wake of the Tsunami disaster."
For the past three years, Matt has been telling the Samoans that they matter to Australia. For the past three weeks, we've been able to prove it.
You should all be very, very proud to be Australian. Your country responded to Samoa's call for help with speed, compassion and a remarkable band of experts who, from the word go, lent their humour and life-saving skills to our Samoan friends and neighbours.
Every day, another sad story is told or you hear an amazing story of survival. Samoa and Samoans have been incredible–such unshaken faith and so resilient, despite enormous loss and adversity. Samoa remains open for business. The bulk of Samoa's hotels were unaffected, and were you to visit, you'd be welcomed with open arms and broad smiles.
The deadly tsunami that struck Samoa made front page news stories around the world. It told of the widespread devastation, the enormous loss of life, the heartache as four generations within one family alone were lost to the forces of the ocean.
And for us, the loss is just as personal.