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ASG, FEMA develop innovative strategy to help Gita survivors

This recent photo shows ASG pre registration for residents impacted by Tropical Storm Gita, at the small fales outside of the DYWA Pago Pago Youth Center. This is for residents who missed the pre registration date at the village level.  [photo: FEMA]
Source: Joint media release

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa — When disaster strikes, people need help immediately. All levels of government have to work to eliminate barriers.

Since operations began, FEMA has disbursed more than $10 million to disaster survivors.

Clipped by Tropical Storm Gita, the people of American Samoa lost homes, had their homes severely damaged, lost personal possessions, and had life interrupted. When FEMA arrived to join the response and survey the damage, planning turned to how federal workers would help to start recovery in American Samoa.

Federal programs and policies were not an exact fit for the culture and landscape of America Samoa. People needed help immediately; this called for new creative procedures. There are no street signs. There are no property addresses. Physical descriptions of property and records of ownership are different in American Samoa compared to the continental United States.

Unusual situations would demand innovative procedures. The result was FEMA and American Samoa Government officials developed what is now “a text-book solution” to these challenges, according to Benigo “Bern” Ruiz, FEMA’s federal coordinating officer.

People like Luisa Gibbs of Vatia, who said she had her home damaged waited patiently for federal help. ASG officials like Samana Semo Ve’ave’a, territorial coordinating officer wanted a fast response to help Gibbs, and thousands more who also waited.

ASG officials developed a process to pre-register residents village by village, starting with the hardest hit. The plan would also use a mixture of Polynesian culture of the pulenu’u, or village mayors, with state of the art technology and standard FEMA policy.

ASG pre-registered and issued tag numbers complete with GPS coordinates beginning with survivors in the hardest hit villages. They then assigned survivors a date to register at the Disaster Recovery Center at Pago Pago. The process proceeded orderly as, village by village, ASG called survivors in to register at assigned times.

When homeowners and renters register for help with their damaged homes, FEMA requires proof a person owns the home and lives in it as the principle residence. Proof of ownership may not exist when properties are passed from one generation to another without a sales agreement or deed.

With the help of village mayors, who helped staff the DRC, FEMA accepted an unusual method to establish ownership – a letter from residents to explain how they became the owner of the property.

The pulenu’u would have another role – accompany the contract FEMA inspector to the impacted properties to do the inspections.

The process, developed in America Samoa, has been described as seamless and survivors continue to get the help they need. More than 6,000 have registered with more to come since the registrations will continue until May 1.

(NOTE:  This is the first of a three-part series that describes the impact of Tropical Storm Gita on a secluded tropical island 6,000 miles from FEMA headquarters and below the equator. The series shows how the American Samoa Government and the federal government cooperated to meet the needs of the survivors.)