Up until Wednesday, the damages caused by the sinking of the New Zealand naval ship HMNZS were being downplayed. The goal was to dispel the notion that there had been no oil spill.

Then boom, just like the noise made by the ship when it struck the reef, came the news that 5000 square metres of coral reef off Tafitoala had been damaged. That is almost as big as a football field. The other worry is 1000 tonnes or 1000000 kilograms of fuel still inside the ship. It is hard to understand how a leaking tank stops leaking after sinking.

Understandably, the incident is tragic for New Zealand as well. The New Zealand Defence Force has lost a multi-million dollar vessel used for research purposes.

That is why the government has to take heed of the advice from International Relations expert Nanai Dr. Iati Iati. He has called for an international inquiry into the sinking of HMNZS Manawanui rather than solely relying on the New Zealand investigation.

The ship sank on Sunday at 9 am. Before it went down to its watery grave, 30 metres below the sea, the New Zealand Defence Force knew what had happened.

It was not until two days later on Tuesday, that they started cleaning up the debris from the ocean. Most of the debris was collected by the locals. Some have even put up videos on various social media platforms asking the New Zealand officials to come and collect the belongings of the personnel who were on board.

The Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Victoria University of Wellington hopes there will be full accountability from those responsible.

“Embarrassing is probably the tip of the iceberg. I think as you see this play out over the next few months, the economic consequences, as well as the environmental consequences, will definitely get worse,” Nanai said.

The reef has been damaged and the marine ecosystem has been disturbed. The danger from the fuel lingers as long as it remains in the ship. For the villages living in the coastal areas, their livelihoods have been affected.

The prohibition order means that they cannot catch fish and other seafood. This was their main source of income. This weekend is White Sunday, a day to celebrate children. Most households in the villages along the coast would have been looking forward to this weekend. There would have been plans to catch fish and sell them to buy things for White Sunday. This is how the local economy works in the seaside villages. Now they cannot.

The village of Tafitoala was brave enough to make a call for compensation. They have asked New Zealand to compensate them for the loss of income and the damage done to their reef and lagoon. These are the times when Samoa should be united. One community can help another and this is what we should be doing for the children of the impacted villages.

Nanai expressed that the possibility of Samoa seeking compensation hinging on the government's resolve to hold those responsible accountable.

"It depends on the extent to which the Samoan Government has the backbone and the resolve to hold those responsible accountable for this," he said.

That is not a bad call but the question is, does the government have the backbone to ask for this? Why ask, we should be demanding it. You break it, you bought it, well, in this case, you pay for the damage. New Zealand is a development partner and after Australia, the nation’s second-biggest donor.

The government in the past has demonstrated that it lacks the backbone to stand for its people because the government’s whole financial strategy is based on aid money. The government used the excuse of sovereignty when they did not make submissions for the Citizenship Bill. This is despite a few days earlier, the Speaker of the House being vocal about telling all parliamentarians to make the submissions.

The government fears that if they present to be demanding they could lose out on aid money. This scenario is not something that can be overlooked. The damage done is almost irreparable. The chain reaction from the ship hitting the reef and other contaminants is real.

The two governments should start thinking about rehabilitating the reef, compensating the livelihoods of the people impacted and not downplaying the dangers.

The damage has been done, we need to work together towards the best results. The best for the environment and the people of this country.