The US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is giving American Samoa more than 124 thousand US dollars to help emergency services respond to terrorism activities, disasters and other emergencies.
FEMA director, Joe Allbaugh, says the grant is a down payment on plans to modernize and strengthen the Territory's emergency preparedness.
Nineteen thousand dollars of the grant will update local plans and procedures to respond to all hazards, with a focus on weapons of mass destruction.
More than 54 thousand will fund a citizen's volunteer group that works with emergency services and a further 50 thousand will be used to assess the territory's emergency operations centre.