Dear friends,
I am sorry for the late posting about the Samoan Tsunami on the early morning of September 29 which is due to me and my family being directly affected by the happening. There have just been more important things to take care of first.
We like to thank every one of you very much for your supporting mails and thoughts about us and Samoa during these hard times after the tsunami.
We were all very, very lucky at Virgin Cove Resort as nobody was killed or badly hurt. Although we were very close to loose many lives we managed to get everyone up in the forest rather quickly. Due to the fantastic and fearless work of our staff to save all our tourists plus my wife and kids we are all safe today.
We only had 10 min time between the big earth quake and the first wave. Luckily it happened in the early morning and not during the night. The wave also came in from the side which reduced it’s impact and then swept away the Beach Villa plus 5 smaller fales. We managed to get everyone to the Church Ministers house and we all camped in the church hall during the night. The Minister and village of Saanapu brought us food and everything else we needed.
The damage to Virgin Cove Resort is very little compared to other resorts and villages like Lalomanu which today is non existent. I have got many mails from people asking where they could help with a donation. Although we are fine with everything there are lots of families that are not. There are also many kids that lost their parents and desperately are looking for a home and a future. At this time we try to support as many other people as possible and any donation is helpful.
I know that cloths or cooking utilities are badly needed as many many people have lost everything. I am happy to help with the distribution if you decide to send a small box with something.
You can always send to us directly:
Mats Loefkvist
P.O.Box 1465 Apia
Samoa
Many people have expressed their thoughts of rather helping with a money donation for tools and materials for rebuilding of houses.
With any small donation we will do all we can to make sure that the people without homes will get this support.
Please send to:
ANZ Bank Samoa Ltd
Account: Seipepa – Samoan Travel Home
Account Number: 1454920
SWIFT CODE = ANZBWSWW
ROUTING NUMBER 010979
We are all humbled by the help the world have showed us and as we are living in a very small nation we feel much like one family. Our Minister of Tourism, Mr Misa Telefoni have written a beautiful comment to the whole situation, “Phoenix rises from tragedy’s ashes“
Thank again for all your concerns and thoughts it is very comforting in a time like this.
Mats & Sia with family
