Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

FEMA offers better tents to American Samoa tsunami survivors

Posted at 01:38 on 11 November, 2009 UTC

The Federal Emergency Management Agency plans to begin delivering larger and more durable tents in American Samoa later this week to some of the families who lost their homes in the tsunami.

The larger tents are in response to concerns that the current emergency shelters are not suitable for the hot and rainy environment.

There have also been complaints they are not big enough for large American Samoan families.

Betty Ah Soon from the Emergency Operations Center says the first tents will be delivered to Amanave.

FEMA’s Federal coordinating Officer Kenneth Tingman explained how they will decide who will receive the tents.

“What we’ve done is we’ve put a team out to reassess the need for tents and other commodities, and then we’ll follow, as with every programme we have, we’ll follow what the need of the American Samoan government says. And we’ll be putting those tents out as quickly as we can once those assessments are done and once we have all of the tents here.”

Kenneth Tringham says they will show the tents to village leaders to gain their approval, before distributing them.