Remittances in the face of disasters: a case study of rural Samoa

In Samoa, like in most Small Island Developing States, remittances are important to sustain people’s daily livelihood and become even more significant in the face of disasters. This study investigates the role of remittances in households’ response to disasters. The focus is on Samoa, where participatory activities and interviews were carried out in coastal communities affected by the tsunami of 2009, and some of which were further hit by cyclone Evan in 2012. It is found that remittances are very fast in reaching those affected and remain high in the long term in order to cope with and recover from disaster. Moreover, remittances interact with external aid since remittances increase when external aid is low and decrease when external aid is higher. Households receiving remittances were able to deal more easily with immediate security needs and recovered more quickly than those with no or limited access to this resource. However, remittances also benefit the wider community, economically, socially, and culturally, for example in perpetuating local tradition. We conclude that governments and aid agencies should take into account remittances in their relief actions and recovery programs. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015