As of this writing, the official death toll in both Samoas was hovering around 100. This figure will almost certainly increase as rescue teams reach remote villages and as more of the missing become accounted for in one way or the other. President Obama has declared a major disaster for American Samoa, which will trigger the deployment of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to direct the response effort. The Independent State of Samoa--the official name of the sovereign island nation commonly known as Samoa and formerly known as Western Samoa--is not eligible for FEMA assistance.
The earthquake that triggered the worst natural disaster to hit the Samoan islands in decades came, as earthquakes do, without warning. The earthquake and resulting tsunami struck exactly one day before another disaster, one for which there was ample warning: Earlier this year, COS Samoa Packing Company, which owns one of two tuna canneries that dominate American Samoa's fragile economy, announced that it would shut down Sept. 30.
The news set off fears of an economic meltdown not only in American Samoa but also in the neighboring independent nation of Samoa, the citizens of which citizens have filled most of the cannery's jobs and provided a steady flow of remittance income back home.
While both Samoas have been bracing for this economic disaster for quite some time, nature has once again asserted its supremacy on these islands. The significance of the man-made Sept. 30 event has, at least for the time being, been washed out to sea with the receding waters of the tsunami--a mere "morning after" to a more violent disaster.
The plant closure is far from people's minds as they frantically search for missing loved ones, grieve for those who have been found, plan funerals, tend to the wounded, shepherd the sick and elderly up and down the mountain, shelter the homeless, clean up the horrendous mess of mud and debris and start to rebuild the homes, businesses and entire villages that have been completely destroyed. Islanders are used to cleaning up after destructive bouts with nature--most commonly after hurricanes, as they're known in the South Pacific, or typhoons, as they're known in the North Pacific. It's part of island life.
Tuna canneries have been the foundation of American Samoa's economy since the 1950s. Until recently, the COS Samoa Packing Company plant (which canned Chicken of the Sea tuna) and a competing StarKist plant together accounted for about two-thirds of the U.S. supply of canned tuna. The two plants together employed 4,757 workers, representing over 27% of all jobs in American Samoa. Over 40% of those jobs will be lost with the closure of the Chicken of the Sea plant, although the American Samoa Government is attempting to find the money to buy the plant and re-open it on a much smaller scale. Even more troublesome is speculation that the StarKist plant, which faces the same international competitive pressures that forced the Chicken of the Sea plant to close, cannot survive in the long run.
As a tiny island community in the middle of the Pacific, American Samoa is at the mercy of powerful forces beyond its control--forces of nature and political forces of the great superpower to which its destiny has been hitched for more than a century. Samoans face the daunting prospect of rebuilding from the worst natural disaster in their recent memory even as the ground is, economically speaking, sinking beneath their feet.
One can think of American Samoa's economy as a three-legged stool, with one leg being the tuna industry, one leg being the local government (which actually employs slightly more workers than the tuna industry) and the third leg being the anemic remainder of the private sector. The remainder of the private sector is supported primarily--directly or indirectly--by purchases from the tuna industry and from local government. The government is supported primarily by revenues generated by the tuna industry; it is also supported somewhat by revenues generated by the rest of the private sector, which in turn is heavily dependent upon the tuna industry.
If you remove the tuna industry leg, the stool comes tumbling down, like a piece of debris tossed about by this week's tsunami. American Samoa is already poorer than any state in America and any other territory. It is about to get poorer still.
Independent Samoa is about to get poorer as well, faced with both the loss of remittances and the prospect of thousands returning home unemployed. Independent Samoa must sometimes pay a price for its economic integration into American Samoa, just as American Samoa must sometimes pay a price for its integration into a superpower that is not always focused on how policies designed for the U.S. mainland can have unintended and harsh consequences when applied to the most remote corners of America.
If America's smallest, poorest and most fragile territory is allowed to collapse because of Washington's indifference, the slogan "Where America's Day Ends"--arising from American Samoa's proximity to the International Date Line--may take on a darker and more ironic meaning that was never intended.
Source: Excerpts from article published by Forbes Magazine