Residents of Aunu’u have been stranded 5 days due to bad weather

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A Facebook post is revealing a shortage of supplies — including food — on Aunu’u.

Written by an Aunu’u resident, the post circulated yesterday, April 4 pleading for help to arrange a boat to assist them with food delivery. The shortage of goods and other supplies is due to small boats not being able to make the trip back and forth in a channel that is considered highly dangerous in bad weather, with several deaths occurring due to drowning when boats ran into trouble with rough seas.

The post cited that they have been stuck on Aunu’u the past 5 days with no boats coming to replenish supplies and food.

The Facebook post asked if there could be arrangements made where a boat from Tutuila would be able to help them with food delivery — or as an alternative — take them to the Tutuila to get food to be brought back to Aunu’u.

Some of the comments on this Facebook post showed members of the community tagging the Office of the Governor and KVZK in an attempt to garner attention to the neglect that the resident’s of Aunu’u have been enduring the past 5 days and to come up with a solution to resolve this crisis.

Samoa News called the Governor’s Office for comments on whether or not they were addressing the shortage of food and supplies for the residents of Aunu’u, to no avail with the voicemail message left by Samoa News unanswered to date.

As of press time, no official comment or statement has been made by any ASG departments such as Search and Rescue or the Port Administration to address arranging for a boat to deliver basic necessities and/ or to resolve the food and supply shortage in Aunu’u, or bring residents of the island until such time the channel or high waves become calm.