A powerful 8.3-magnitude earthquake caused tsunami waves that struck several South Pacific island nations early on September 30, 2009.

The tsunami took more than 190 lives and many of the villages and resorts on the southern coast of Upolu island were wiped out.

Habitat’s response
Habitat for Humanity New Zealand has received pledges of financial aid, volunteer services and donations of materials. To date, Habitat New Zealand has more than 500 volunteers (mostly builders and tradespersons) ready to go to Samoa to help. Habitat’s vision is to build 500 traditional Samoan fales (houses) in the coming months, built with disaster-mitigation elements.

Habitat foresees that there will be a great demand for building materials as the clean-up phase comes to an end and Samoan families begin to repair their lives. A Habitat Resource Center could be set up to pre-fabricate various fale components to facilitate onsite construction.

How you can help
Please donate today to support Habitat’s efforts in response to this devastating Pacific tsunami.