Regional Conference on Strategies and Tools for Integrating Disaster Risk Reduction into Development and Planning

Bangkok 16-18 February 2015

versus

“The Bank's Cyclone Emergency Recovery Project for Independent State of Samoa will help the government of Samoa begin to address the significant infrastructure repair that is now needed. Seawalls constructed after the major cyclones Ofa and Val in 1990-91 and other emergency measures helped to

reduce the damages caused by Heta.” – Report from World Bank , Published on 03

May 2004

Outline of Presentation

• Basic Information about Samoa

• Samoa’s experience in DRR and

CCA

• Gaps

• Needs

• Location: Pacific

• Population – 192,000 (2014

census)

• Area:

total: 2,944 km²

land: 2,934 km²

water: 10 km²

• Climate: tropical; rainy /cyclone

season (November to April), dry

season (May to October)

• Elevation extremes:

highest point: 1,857 m

• Coastline: 403 km

• GDP: 4,212.36 USD (2013)

Samoa’s Experience

• Tropical Cyclone Ofa – February 1990

• Tropical Cyclone Val – December 1991

• Tropical Cyclone Heta – January 2004– Estimated damages – USD$25mil (WB Report

Published 03 May 2004)

• Earthquake and Tsunami – September 2009– Estimated Damages and Losses – USD$124mil (PDNA

report)

• Tropical Cyclone Evans – December 2012– Estimate USD$240mil (PDNA report)

– Foreign aid = USD$108mil

Economic Damage Caused by Previous

Natural Disasters in SamoaEvent Return

Period

Asset

Damage

Loss of

GDP

Total GDP Loss as %

of GDP

Notes

Years USD

million,

USD

million,

USD million

Cyclone Ofa,

1990

25 166 15 161 113 Buildings and

infrastructure

Cyclone Val,

1991

100 388 36 163 260 30%

agricultural

assets

Cyclone Heta,

2004

10 1 4 236 2 Limited

Damage

Tsunami, 2009 50 54 50 277 38 Buildings,

infrastructure

and tourism

Cyclone Evan,

2012

100 103 100.6 632 29 Productive

Sector

Source: World Bank 2010 and GoS 2013 (Samoa PDNA Cyclone Evan 2012)

• Government endorsed the concept of integrating

DRR and Climate Change into the National Planning

Framework

– SDS 2012-2016: Key Outcome 8.2 “Community

Development” & Key Outcome 14 “Climate and

Disaster Resilience”

• Integration of DRR and CCA into Sector Plans (Water,

Energy, Education, Environment, Transport,

Community)

• National Disaster Management Plan 2011-2014

– Established but now under review to identify gaps

and weaknesses that emerged during the Tsunami

2009 and TC Evan 2012

• SNAP 2011-2016 currently in place

• Disaster & Emergency Management Act 2007 is currently under Review, the purpose is to highly reflect DRR in the Act and so that current DRR activities are legally supported by the DM Act.

• Samoa is in its 3rd season of the Pacific Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance Program

• CPEIR 2007-2012 (15% of public expenditure is climate relevant

• Coastal Infrastructure Management (CIM) Plans Review and Update to integrate other Plans; and implementation.

• Development and Implementation of

Community Disaster Response Plans as well as

Preparedness activities led by DMO

(simulation exercises and drills)

• Ongoing trainings of Government response

agencies and other non –govt agencies in

disaster preparedness and PDNA

Gaps• Procurement for emergency situations

– Funding.

• Roles & responsibilities during hazard

– Unclear separation of Roles and Responsibilities

(coordination)of line ministries and agencies

during the 2009 Tsunami and subsequent Cyclone

Evans in 2012

• EWS (Sirens Systems) only covers the areas

that were affected by 2009 tsunami

• Insurance cover for large scale disasters in both

medium and long terms

• Incorporate ‘build back better’ principles into new

and ongoing projects

Needs• Expansion of NEOC for storage space and

safeguard of relief supplies and equipment

• Post disaster budget execution and post

disaster response capacity guidelines.

– Financial system for immediate disaster response

• Procurement of more HR in DMO (currently

have a staff of 8) and a need for capacity

building (technical)

• Relief Coordination and tracking system

– Development of a database in progress

THANK YOU!