Samoa rebuilds after the tsunami

By Phil Mercer BBC News

Many people lost everything when the tsunamis hit

The authorities in Samoa are starting to distribute building supplies to help victims of last month's tsunami construct new homes.

Each affected household is to receive about US$18,000 (£11,000) worth of materials.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele is urging villagers to build their new homes on higher ground inland.

The tsunami, triggered by an earthquake in the South Pacific, killed 186 people in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga.

Relocation

The Samoan government has said that reconstruction efforts have gone well so far in southern parts of the country that bore the brunt of the tsunami.

Coastal villages that were reduced to piles of rubble, twisted metal and crushed cars have now been cleared ready for the rebuilding to begin.

The big question is, however, whether residents will want to return.

Wary of the threat of natural disasters and rising sea levels, Prime Minister Sailele is encouraging villagers to abandon low-lying regions.

"It goes with our efforts to relocate people away from the coast in view of the impending climate change," he said.

"We have been talking about this for years, and it requires only eight minutes of the tsunami to convince some of our people that the most safe area will be inland. That would be safe from these tsunamis."

Food and clothing sent in shipping containers by expatriate Samoan communities in New Zealand and the United States have now been distributed.

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