Samoa and Western Samoa united in tragedy

Malo Sa'oloto Tuto'atasi o Samoa
Independent State of Samoa
and
American Samoa
Amerika Sāmoa / Sāmoa Amelika

It seemed too frivolous to write my work blog before mentioning the tragedy caused by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

While there is little that I can do wherever I live, it is at times like this that I feel my Pacific roots which mostly lie dormant. Sad too, that it takes a tragedy to stir interest in other places. After explaining to my boss this morning that the tragedy was not only in American Samoa (Obama is in the news here describing relief efforts) but Samoa and probably hundreds of other islands in the Samoan Archipelago, I realised how little I knew about Samoa, why there are two Samoas, and where New Zealand and America fitted into the history.

Wikipedia has an excellent entry, with several sub sections well worth studying. Somehow it feels as though you are at least doing something positive, reading and learning a little more about the people who have been hit so terribly in this natural disaster.
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