Posted at 22:46 on 27 May, 2013 UTC

The Samoa Women in Business Development group says farmers badly affected by last years destructive Cyclone Evan are very close to being back to business as usual.

Read the full article on Radio New Zealand International

A team of technical specialists from the Australian Civilian Corps will spend the next 12 months in Samoa to help with its long-term recovery from Cyclone Evan.

Australian High Commissioner to Samoa, Dr Stephen Henningham, said the deployment of up to seven specialists will complement the $7 million announced in February for reconstruction efforts following the disaster. This adds to the $2 million in emergency supplies delivered immediately after the cyclone hit in December 2012.

Australia and Samoa have signed an aid agreement to help in construction efforts from a cyclone that ripped through the Pacific nation last year.

Australia and Samoa have signed an aid agreement to help in construction efforts from a cyclone that ripped through the Pacific nation last year.

The donation of almost AU$7 million (US$7.25 million) will be used to help rebuild schools and medical facilities in Samoa damaged by Cyclone Evan in December.

It is estimated the cyclone caused AU$200 million (US$207 million) worth of damage.

The Global Overview collates information from a wide range of sources and displays this information in a manner that allows for quick comparison of different humanitarian crises.

The World Bank says it will provide Samoa with an extra USD $20 million to help it recover from Cyclone Evan.

Evan struck in December 2012 and killed five people, displaced about 4000 and damaged or destroyed hundreds of houses.

The cyclone also damaged transport infrastructure, energy plants, tourism facilities and crops.

The World Bank's Franz Drees-Grosse told Radio Australia a damage assessment they did in conjunction with Samoa's government in January showed the economic impact of the disaster was enormous.

The Global Overview is a weekly update that collates humanitarian information from a wide range of sources. Its primary objective is to rapidly inform humanitarian decision makers by presenting a summary of major humanitarian crises, both recent and protracted.

For the first time in their lives, 15 villagers from Gabagaba village took part in a Participatory Risk Mapping exercise led by USAID, through its Coastal Community Adaptation Project (C-CAP).

The project aims to build the resilience of Pacific communities to withstand the long and short-term effects of climate change caused by intense and frequent weather events, ecosystem degradation and sea-level rise.

The Global Overview collates information from a wide range of sources and displays this information in a manner that allows for quick comparison of different humanitarian crises. Its primary objective is to rapidly inform humanitarian decision makers by presenting a summary of major humanitarian crises, both recent and protracted.

The Pacific Humanitarian Team (PHT) is a partnership of all agencies and organizations that have a mandate to respond to natural disasters in the Pacific Island region, and that agree to coordinate international humanitarian action according to a cluster or sector approach. It was established in July 2008 by humanitarian stakeholders at the Regional Inter-Agency Contingency Planning Workshop for Humanitarian Assistance in the Pacific to deliver timely, effective and coordinated international response to natural disasters in 14 Pacific Island Countries (PICs).