Disaster Resilience Summit gives opportunity to discuss best practices

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The 1st Annual Amerika Samoa Disaster Resilience Summit opens tomorrow, Tuesday, for three days, at the Gov. H. Rex Lee Auditorium, organized by the ASG Office of Disaster Assistance and Petroleum Management (ODAPM).

Over 20 outreach booths hosted by local, state and federal partners will be at the event ready to engage the community about their emergency support functions, roles and responsibilities in times of disaster. Additionally, there will also be various training sessions geared for government leadership, said ODAPM director, Lisa Tuato’o.

“Our goal is to bridge the gap between our government agencies and the community we serve by generating dialogue, providing opportunity to exchange information, discuss best practices and challenges we encounter,” she explained.

“We hope to promote enhanced understanding and capacity building opportunities for all aspects of emergency management, grant programs and engage with decision makers in the territory,” Tuato’o said, adding that this is the first summit of its kind in the territory and “we are excited for this event.”

As mandated functions of ODAPM, Pre- and Post-Disaster duties and responsibilities are critical throughout the four phases of emergency management: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery, according to the ODAPM director.

This year’s theme is “Bridging the Gap Between Government and Communities” and the event is “focused on engaging our community and local partners on the resilience efforts for the territory and this includes our federal partners,” Tuato’o points out.

The summit also includes training session for the three days, provided by both local and federal partners. Of importance, are the training sessions tomorrow by ODAPM senior officials, and it includes subject matters on Public Assistance, Hazard Mitigation Assistance, according to ASG officials.

The last day of the summit is Thursday, Sept. 29, which also marks the 13th Anniversary of the deadly tsunami of Sept. 29, 2009 that claimed the lives of 34 people in American Samoa.

No official statement at press time from the Administration on any planned activities to mark the anniversary, of the worst natural disaster in American Samoa’s history. But it’s expected to be observed during the summit while families who lost their loved ones will hold separate memorial services at home.