Most of Samoa’s population and critical infrastructure is located on the coast. This makes the country highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change including tropical cyclones and storm surge, flooding, more severe and longer-lasting droughts and heat waves, coastal erosion, increased acidity of ocean waters, sea-level rise, wind-driven waves and king tides.
Most of Samoa’s population and critical infrastructure is located on the coast. This makes the country highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change including tropical cyclones and storm surge, flooding, more severe and longer-lasting droughts and heat waves, coastal erosion, increased acidity of ocean waters, sea-level rise, wind-driven waves and king tides.
Our partner, Caritas Samoa, supports the livelihood and resilience of vulnerable communities through increased access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene. The project will provide water tanks with stand-alone rainwater harvesting systems to individual households and three schools as well as bathroom facilities to vulnerable families across the three islands of Samoa.
Water tanks can be installed for families with limited access to clean water.
Children can have access to clean water at schools.
Toilets can be installed so that families are less likely to get sick.
Samoa may be a country surrounded by water, but access to clean drinking water is scarce in some areas, with many families facing extreme hardship as a result.
Leaia lives with her five children, husband, brother, and sister-in-law on the island of Upolu in Samoa. Not having access to clean water for their daily lives caused Leaia a lot of stress.
Their home is not connected to a piped water system, so they used to rely solely on rainwater collected in old fridges. When their water ran out, she had to walk with her young children to collect water in buckets and containers from a neighbour down the street.
With the support of Caritas Australia’s local partner, Caritas Samoa, a water tank was installed at their home. She and her family now have a steady supply of clean drinking water at home. Next year, they will also have a toilet built, with the support of Caritas Samoa, which will further improve their health and living conditions.
We are very thankful and grateful for the water tank. It has helped us so much and made our daily life easier.
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