2:30 PM |
Ta'afuli Andrew Fiu October 3 at 9:03am
Containers filled with food, bottled water, clothing and cooking items are being packed and sent back to Samoa, where the tsunami has left hundreds of people with nothing.
The Samoan, Tongan and wider Pacific communities in New Zealand have rallied together to help loved ones in the islands, as news of death and devastation in their homelands hashit.
Various fundraising appeals, charitable bank accounts and radiothons are being held, urging people to give what they can.
Samoans make up 115,000 of New Zealand's Pacific population of 231,800, according to Statistics New Zealand figures.
Mangere MP Su'a William Sio said with the Samoan community being the largest Pacific group in the country, it was not unexpected that people would contribute masses of support and help.
"I've been ringing church ministers all throughout today, and in every church there's somebody there that is related to someone who has died.
"It's affecting everyone in the Samoan community and there are boxes of food, tools and cooking things being sent all through the country."
A massive memorial service for the victims and the people of Samoa is scheduled in Auckland City this Sunday - the first of many remembrance services to be held in the weeks to come.
The service, at the Pacific Islands Church in Newton, will be a combined prayer vigil for various denominations, including members of the Catholic, Methodist and Anglican Churches and the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa.
A Samoa Tsunami Donation Appeal set up by the Pacific Co-operation Foundation, based in Wellington, was yesterday already getting numbers of people donating large amounts of money.
Members of the Pacific community in Wellington are looking to gather large bottles of water to put into containers and send to the islands of Samoa, Tonga and American Samoa - where the number of deaths continues to rise.
Yesterday, Air New Zealand announced extra flights this week as large numbers of Samoans looked to return to their motherland to be with loved ones.
Many people were going to help with the clean-up process, whileothers were returning to help to find loved ones who are missing, feared dead.
Mr Sio said he would be at a meeting today with church ministers from throughout Auckland to discuss ways to help the community here to help those back in the islands.
The Samoan, Tongan and wider Pacific communities in New Zealand have rallied together to help loved ones in the islands, as news of death and devastation in their homelands hashit.
Various fundraising appeals, charitable bank accounts and radiothons are being held, urging people to give what they can.
Samoans make up 115,000 of New Zealand's Pacific population of 231,800, according to Statistics New Zealand figures.
Mangere MP Su'a William Sio said with the Samoan community being the largest Pacific group in the country, it was not unexpected that people would contribute masses of support and help.
"I've been ringing church ministers all throughout today, and in every church there's somebody there that is related to someone who has died.
"It's affecting everyone in the Samoan community and there are boxes of food, tools and cooking things being sent all through the country."
A massive memorial service for the victims and the people of Samoa is scheduled in Auckland City this Sunday - the first of many remembrance services to be held in the weeks to come.
The service, at the Pacific Islands Church in Newton, will be a combined prayer vigil for various denominations, including members of the Catholic, Methodist and Anglican Churches and the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa.
A Samoa Tsunami Donation Appeal set up by the Pacific Co-operation Foundation, based in Wellington, was yesterday already getting numbers of people donating large amounts of money.
Members of the Pacific community in Wellington are looking to gather large bottles of water to put into containers and send to the islands of Samoa, Tonga and American Samoa - where the number of deaths continues to rise.
Yesterday, Air New Zealand announced extra flights this week as large numbers of Samoans looked to return to their motherland to be with loved ones.
Many people were going to help with the clean-up process, whileothers were returning to help to find loved ones who are missing, feared dead.
Mr Sio said he would be at a meeting today with church ministers from throughout Auckland to discuss ways to help the community here to help those back in the islands.
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