More than 140 people are feared dead after a series of tsunamis hit the Pacific island nations of American and Western Samoa, destroying villages and injuring hundreds of people.
The magnitude-8.0 earthquake south of Samoa triggered yesterday’s tsunami and left 110 people confirmed dead in Western Samoa.
President Barack Obama declared American Samoa, a US territory, a major disaster and ordered Federal aid to help recovery efforts. At least 24 people were killed in American Samoa.
Disaster officials said the toll may rise as rescuers search for bodies in flattened villages along the southern shore of the island of Upolu. Twenty villages on Upolu's south side were reportedly destroyed, including Lepa, the home of Samoa's prime minister. The area is also the main tourist area, and the waves destroyed some resorts.
New Zealand's government said there were serious concerns about the neighboring island of Tonga after a five-metre (13-foot) wave hit its northern coast. Tongan officials said they feared seven people had been killed.
A Pacific-wide tsunami warning was issued after an 8.0 magnitude undersea quake off American Samoa, with reports of a small tsunami reaching New Zealand and rising sea levels in several South Pacific island nations.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre cancelled its Pacific-wide warning, but Japan's Meteorological Agency issued a local tsunami warning for its east coast, warning of a possible small tsunami.
The Indian Ocean tsunami on December 26th, 2004, which killed about 230,000 people across 11 countries, was the worst on record.
Shortly after local radio tsunami warnings were issued in American and Western Samoa, waves started crashing into the capital of American Samoa, Pago Pago, and villages and resorts on the southern coasts of the tiny island nations, witnesses said.
"The whole southern side of the island is devastated," said Soloalii Faalepo, executive director of the American Samoan government office in Honolulu.
A series of four waves hit Pago Pago, swamping the harbourside business center and temporarily closing the airport.
American Samoa tourism chief David Vaeafe said water levels rose about three minutes after the tsunami warning, with small villages around the capital devastated.
There were reports of looting in Pago Pago as people flocked into supermarkets to stockpile supplies.
Reuters