A three-year study into village resilience to natural disasters is about to commence in American Samoa.
The University of Hawaii is carrying out the research which will start at the village of Leone which was hit by the tsunami in 2009.
Professor Dolores Foley, who'll be leading the team, says they'll be interviewing groups in the community to learn about how they coped before, during, and after the tsunami impact.
She says one of the goals of the study is to share what works best.
"One of the things we even heard is that people say you know well that a lot of the information from traditions have been lost, that in many ways people live further from the ocean but I think we can really see that resilience varies by communities so what are some of the best practices."
Professor Foley says the University's National Disaster Preparedness Training Centre will also be doing training courses in American Samoa.
