Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Samoa accommodation business moves away from coast

Posted at 03:29 on 05 November, 2009 UTC

A Samoan family in Lalomanu on the southern coast of Upolu says following the recent tsunami, it is rebuilding its accommodation business closer to a hillside.

Given suggestions to no longer build on the coast, Ben Taufua of Taufua Beach Fales, says they are rebuilding their main restaurant and accommodation in a village-type setting

He says that is so they can build escape routes to higher ground in the event of another tsunami.

“We will then look at building beach fales but except this time it is going to be called Taufua Village. And the idea is that we are going to build beach fales on the hillside of the beach and they will be built in a way that reflects a village and the centre piece of that village would be the restaurant area and the bar area.”

Ben Taufua says they are also re-landscaping the foreshore, which suffered much seaside erosion.