Homeland Security Director, Samana Semo Ve’ave’a, says the priority for the FEMA tents and cots are families whose homes were totally destroyed.
As of Friday’s assessment the total number of homes which were total losses was 129.
The government shelters at Tafuna Elementary and Samoana were closed last week and families who couldn’t return to their homes were moved to designated church halls.
Samana says their aim is to give tents firstly to families whose homes were destroyed and have them return to their properties.
He said tent companies are being contracted to install the FEMA tents and those businesses are selected via the Office of Procurement.
Those with partially damaged homes will be the next ones to get the cots and according to Samana this will be based on several factors.
He says their plan is to have all displaced individuals still at church halls back in their homes by Saturday.
The Homeland Security Director pointed out that at this stage while the declaration by President Trump is that of an emergency, the FEMA help requires a 25% local match, so all the emergency supplies that have been airlifted here come at a price to ASG.
Teams that began documenting damages to homes, government buildings, community centers and infrastructure, are scheduled to complete their work by the middle of this week.
All public schools now have power and water and classes reopen this morning.
The American Samoa Community College is also resuming classes today.
Private schools reopening today are Iakina, Peteli, South Pacific Academy, all Catholic schools, Samoa Baptist Academy, and Pacific Horizons.
K3 to 1st grade for Pacific Horizons are being held at Lupelele Church of Christ.
