Overview of Humanitarian and Short Term Needs following the Samoa Earthquake and Tsunami : final

Abstract

This document presents a brief overview of humanitarian and short term needs three weeks after the tsunami struck Samoa on 29 September 2009. Following the disaster, the Government of Samoa, Samoa Red Cross and other national and local organizations and international organizations and bilateral partners responded to the needs with great effort. As a result operations moved rapidly from response to recovery. The government of Samoa requested within a week the UN to take the lead in the formulation of an early recovery framework. Following discussions in the IASC meeting of the Pacific Humanitarian Team, OCHA was requested to provide the IASC an overview of humanitarian and/or short term needs that would not necessarily covered in the Early Recovery Framework and planning.