Closure sought on last trip to tsunami-hit Samoa

Keith Smith in Satitoa with the Reverend Vaitu'u from the Congregational Church and his wife Saili. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

The bonds between Whanganui and a small Samoan village remain, seven years after the tsunami that formed them.

In September 2009 a magnitude 8.1 earthquake hit off the coast of Samoa, generating a tsunami of up to 9m high. In December of that year an 11-strong team travelled from Whanganui to the east coast village of Satitoa, that suffered 15 deaths and the destruction of nearly all its buildings during the tsunami.

The trip was funded by the $40,000 raised from the Whanganui community by then-Whanganui District councillor Ray Stevens. The delegation helped with the clean-up of the village and built a small hall for the community.

Since then, there have been five more Whanganui delegations to Satitoa.

Keith Smith has been on every single delegation, and he has just returned from his seventh trip to Satitoa.

He hasn't been to Satitoa for several years, but wanted to return to get some "closure".

"I wanted to see how the village is doing, seven years after the tsunami."

What Mr Smith found was encouraging. While some families left Satitoa after the tsunami, many of them have since returned. The village's population has remained steady at around 500.

"What was really surprising was that many of the houses have been re-built on the flat land by the beach," Mr Smith said.

"After the tsunami, people were frightened of the sea and were living inland. I thought it might take a couple of generations for the village to move back to the beach.

But each time I went back to Satitoa it was obvious they were gravitating back to the sea."

The people of Satitoa are mostly subsistence farmers, growing their own crops and fishing.

Mr Smith said he noticed the tsunami was seldom mentioned by the villagers now.

"Life has gone on for most people," he said. "The local school is doing really well and is busy - they've just built a new hall."

In the past seven years, 30 Whanganui people have made the trip to Satitoa to help with the re-building efforts, as well as 23 Wanganui Collegiate students.

Mr Smith said he was unlikely to return to Samoa, at least in the near future.

"There are people I will always stay in touch with, but it's time to move on. Every trip took a lot of time and money."

He said it was very pleasing to see that the vision he'd had in 2009 - of a restored Satitoa - had been realised.