The Samoa Tourism Authority hosted a training by two experts from Surf Life Saving Tasmania who specialize in emergency response.

The aim of the training is to improve water safety response in Samoa.

Tony Van Den Enden, the Chief executive of Surf Life Saving Tasmania was enthusiastic in his comments towards the initiative by STA.

“This is incredibly important to know that tourists come to Samoa and you have the proper response to any emergency situation.

“The training is all the way through, from teaching the theory to the practical, taking everyone involved through the programme,” said Mr. Enden.

The programme understands that with the large number of resorts in Samoa both on Savai’i and Upolu, the emergency response may not be effective if it is only provided to a few Government departments.

“This is why we’re going out to communities soon. Imagine the bigger time gap we would have to save a life when an accident occurs and there’s someone in the resort or in the village that has learnt  rst aid response.” Mr. Enden added.

Officers from two of Samoa’s main response departments, Police and Fire and Emergency Services Authority are involved in the  first theory part of the training.

Mr. Enden said that anyone can be trained, because anyone can learn, and that the community should know who is more capable to handle certain situations.

“Tactics are different but the most important thing is that you save the life of whoever is in the water. Initially once the person’s heart stops beating you have ideally four minutes to perform CPR to save that person’s life, so it’s good to know where you are at and what the plan is to saving this person’s life,” Said Mr. Enden.

The two trainers worked with Samoa Tourism Authority’s Planning and Development Division who coordinated the Training, and also conducted the same training for the tourism sector in the big Island of Savai’i.