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Death toll in Samoas tsunami reaches 150
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 01 - 10 - 2009


Samoans sifted the wreckage of their
flattened homes and told of being trapped underwater or
flung inland by a tsunami that ravaged towns and killed at
least 150 people in the South Pacific, according to AP.
The day after the disaster struck, officials were
expecting the death toll to rise as more areas were
searched.
«To me it was like a monster _ just black water coming to
you. It wasn't a wave that breaks, it was a full force of
water coming straight,» said Luana Tavale, an American
Samoa government employee.
Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele's own village of
Lesa was washed away _ like many others on Samoa and nearby
American Samoa and Tonga. He inspected Wednesday the
southeast coast of the main Samoan island of Upolu, the
most heavily hit area. He described seeing «complete»
devastation.
«In some villages absolutely no house was standing. All
that was achieved within 10 minutes by the very powerful
tsunami,» he said.
A magnitude 8.0 quake struck off Samoa at 6:48 a.m. local
time (1:48 p.m. EDT; 1748 GMT) Tuesday. The islands soon
were engulfed by four tsunami waves 15 to 20 feet (4 to 6
meters) high that reached up to a mile (1.5 kilometers)
inland.
The Samoas lie about halfway between New Zealand and
Hawaii, just east of the international date line. That
means the tsunami hit Tuesday morning there, while it was
already Wednesday in Asia.
Tuilaepa said the death toll in Samoa was 110, mostly
elderly and young children. At least 31 people were killed
on American Samoa, Gov. Togiola Tulafono said. Officials in
the island nation of Tonga said nine people had been
killed.
Samoan police commander Lilo Maiava predicted the toll
would rise.
«It may take a week, two weeks or even three weeks» to
complete the search for the many people still missing, he
said.
The quake was centered about 120 miles (190 kilometers)
south of the nation of Samoa, formerly part of New Zealand,
which has about 220,000 people, and American Samoa, a U.S.
territory of 65,000.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said it
issued an alert, but the waves came so quickly that
residents only had about 10 minutes to respond.
New Zealand school teacher Charlie Pearse choked back
tears as she spoke to New Zealand's TV One News from an
Apia hospital bed in Samoa, recalling how she was trapped
underwater and thought she was going to die.
She was in the back of a truck trying to outrun the
tsunami with about 20 children when a wave tossed the truck
and it landed on top of them.
«We all went under the water and I think a number of the
children died instantly,» Pearse said.
«I asked, 'Is this my time to come home? Take me home,
I'm ready,' and I let my breath out and I took a big gulp
of water ... and I don't know, I just popped out (from
under the water),» Pearse said.
On the island of Upolu, taro farmer Tony Fauena said he
ran for the hills when the deadly tsunami thundered across
the coast while his niece ran to rescue her 6-month-old
son. Villagers found the bodies of the mother and son
entangled in uprooted trees and debris at the foot of lush
mountains 200 yards (meters) from the ocean.
«Many parents died trying to protect their children,»
Fauena told The Associated Press from the ruins of a
brother's home in the village of Sale Ataga on the
southeast coast as he watched police search the same area
for four more missing relatives.
The heavily damaged southeast coast of the island was a
stretch of flattened, mud-swept villages. Mattresses hung
from trees. Police searched for survivors amid pulverized
homes and bodies scattered in a swamp. Several tourist
resorts were wiped out, authorities said.
In Tonga, government spokesman Lopeti Senituli said parts
of an island have disappeared, with two of the island's
three villages virtually flattened.
«The hospital on the island has been severely damaged as
well as the airport runway ... meaning no fixed-wing
aircraft can land,» he said. A Tongan patrol boat has been
sent with water, food and shelter for more than 1,000
residents.
American Samoa Gov. Togiola Tulafono said Wednesday
evening that finding survivors was a priority.
«We are doing lifesaving and life-sustaining efforts, so
if there is anybody that is still missing, (they need) to
be found,» Tulafono told reporters in the capital, Pago
Pago. «We're making that a priority.»
U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Barry Compagnoni, whose
jurisdiction includes the port of Pago Pago, said a
disaster assessment team was to arrive later Wednesday from
Honolulu and will work with local officials to analyze the
damage.
Power in Pago Pago was expected to be out in some areas
for up to a month, and officials said some 2,200 people
were in seven shelters across the island.
The waves lifted a building housing a hardware store and
carried it across a two-lane highway. Crews later found the
two employees' bodies in the debris.
Red Cross relief worker Garete Wolfe at a hilltop camp in
Samoa said water was the most critical need.
«The water lines are all ... damaged, and with this water
problem we face waterborne disease,» Wolfe said.
A Coast Guard C-130 plane loaded with aid and carrying
Federal Emergency Management Agency officials flew from
Hawaii to Pago Pago, where debris had been cleared from
runways. President Barack Obama has declared a major
disaster for American Samoa.
Australian officials said they will send an air force
plane carrying 20 tons of humanitarian aid, as well as aid
officials and medical personnel to Samoa.
New Zealand provided 1 million New Zealand dollars
($710,000) in immediate aid to Samoa, Tonga and the Samoan
Red Cross on Thursday. Acting Prime Minister Bill English
said Prime Minister John Key is cutting short his U.S.
vacation to fly to Samoa to inspect the damage.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs said three
Australians were among the dead. The British Foreign Office
said one Briton was missing and presumed dead.
While the earthquake and tsunami were big, they were not
as large as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed more
than 230,000 in a dozen countries across Asia.


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