The tsunami that struck American Samoa has now claimed at least 150 lives, authorities said on Thursday, in an upwardly revised report on lives claimed by the storm. A magnitude 8.0 quake struck off Samoa early Tuesday morning. The islands soon were engulfed by four tsunami waves 15 to 20 feet high that reached up to a mile inland. The Samoas lie about halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii, just east of the international date line. Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele said the death toll in Samoa was 110, mostly elderly and young children. At least 31 people were killed on American Samoa, Governor 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.
