Tsunami disaster is personal for Mercy Corps’ Mitchell

By Cliff Newell

The Lake Oswego Review, Oct 20, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

SUBMITTED PHOTO COURTESY OF MERCY CORPS / GREG CASAGRANDE

The village of Lalomanu, Samoa is gone — where 21 clients of South Pacific Financial Development lived before the tsunami destroyed their homes and businesses.

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When Steve Mitchell heard that Samoa had been devastated by a tsunami, he was shocked.

“I wanted to cry,” said the Lake Oswego man. “I was really upset. The Samoan people are the most beautiful, kind and loving people on earth. I know because I’ve traveled most of this planet.”

Mitchell’s travels took him to Samoa for two years as a missionary in the mid 1970s. Now, as chief financial officer for Mercy Corps, he is used to dealing with natural disasters. But the two earthquakes and tsunami that hit the Asia-Pacific region on Sept. 30 really hit home.

“I know the area very well,” Mitchell said. “The damage was terrific. Most Samoans live close together near the shore because of fishing and the cool breezes.

“Actually, it’s surprising the death toll was not much higher, because the tsunami hit the fales (dwellings of the people), concrete buildings, everything in the way. It even affected the fish and the crops inland.”

By Mitchell’s count, 20 coastal communities were totally destroyed, 20 more were damaged, 134 people were killed, and there was $147 million in damage. These were losses the Samoans could ill afford because “they’re an impoverished people.”

The toll for entire western Indonesia was much higher, with 600 persons confirmed dead and thousands trapped under rubble and mudslides.

However, as an officer with Mercy Corps, Mitchell has been able to do something about the double-disaster.

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