Story of loss inspires Pacific scholarships

Massey University is establishing special scholarships for Pasifika people to train in disaster management – a move applauded by a Samoan academic who lost 14 family members in last September's tsunami.

A Pacific Disaster Management Research Programme will start next year at the Joint Centre for Disaster Research, run by the University and the crown research institute GNS Science. The scholarships will be announced this afternoon by Assistant Vice-Chancellor, (Mäori and Pasifika), Professor Sir Mason Durie at the 4th Australasia Hazards Management conference in Wellington. The programme offers an annual scholarship worth $5000 to a Pasifika student undertaking graduate or postgraduate study in disaster management, and four reserved places at the centre's Emergency Management Summer Institute held annually in March.

Sir Mason says two of the places will be reserved for Pasifika students living in a Pacific Nation, and the other two for Pasifika people living in New Zealand.

Ben Taufua, a Pacific Development Adviser at Massey's Albany campus, recalls first hearing on the 7am news on September 29 that a massive tsunami had struck the coastal village of Lalomanu where his family operates tourist beach fales on the east of coast of Samoa's Upolu Island. He arrived there later that evening to help search for missing relatives in the aftermath of the tsunami, which killed 180 in Samoa and Tonga following an 8.1 magnitude quake.

While emergency and disaster relief operations were present, his family was left to cope alone, Mr Taufua says. He wants to see Pacific communities better informed and equipped to manage disaster planning and relief, rather than relying on outside agencies for aid and believes the scholarships will be pivotal in preventing future loss of life and property.

"The initial response from our experience was that we took it upon ourselves the task of looking after our family because there seemed to be no managed support. It would be great if there were better, more comprehensive emergency planning. We are prepared for cyclones and small quakes but tsunamis happen so rarely. When the wave subsided we were left with total, total devastation and we didn't know how to deal with it. With cyclones, there is a season and it's predictable," he says.

"A cyclone is the benchmark of what natural disaster means for us and that's what we are geared up for. In a cyclone, you know it's coming, with warnings over the radio, and you tie down anything loose, secure the roofing or move out of unstable housing and to the churches, which are solidly built and safer," Mr Taufua says.

Mr Taufua hopes the scholarships will enable Pasifika peoples to identify gaps and develop knowledge and expertise so they can prepare for and manage disasters in a way that reflects their societies' communal social structure, values and lifestyles. "Against the backdrop of my experiences, this scholarship is so personal to me and my family, and to everyone who lost a loved one in the tsunamis in Samoa and Tonga."

For further information: http://disasters.massey.ac.nz/teaching.htm#pacific_award