Dozens dead as quake, tsunami hit Samoas
PAGO PAGO, American Samoa – A powerful Pacific Ocean earthquake spawned towering tsunami waves that swept ashore onSamoa and American Samoa, flooding and flattening villages, killing at least 39 people and leaving dozens missing.
Cars and people were swept out to sea by the fast-churning water as survivors fled to higher ground, where they remained huddled hours after the quake struck early Tuesday. Signs of devastation were everywhere, with a giant boat washed ashore lying on the edge of a highway and floodwaters swallowing up cars and homes.
The quake, with a magnitude between 8.0 and 8.3, struck around dawn 120 miles (190 kilometers) from American Samoa, a U.S. territory that is home to 65,000 people.
Four tsunami waves 15 to 20 feet (4 to 6 meters) high roared ashore soon afterward, reaching up to a mile (1.6 kilometers) inland, Mike Reynolds, superintendent of the National Park of American Samoa, was quoted as saying by a parks service spokeswoman.
Hampered by power and communications outages, officials hours later struggled to determine damage and casualties. At least 39 people were killed — 20 on Samoa and 19 on American Samoa — but officials acknowledged the death toll seemed sure to rise.
"I don't think anybody is going to be spared in this disaster," said acting American Samoa Gov. Faoa A. Sunia.
Sunia declared a state of emergency in American Samoa, describing "immense and widespread damage to individual, public and commercial buildings in coastal areas" along with death and injury.
Gov. Togiola Tulafono, who was in Honolulu for a conference, told reporters that more victims could be found when rescuers reach areas that are inaccessible by roads. Tulafono said a member of his extended family was among the dead.
New Zealand's acting Prime Minister Bill English said any death tolls for the Samoas were only "guesses" so far, and that there were unconfirmed reports of five additional people dead in the island nation of Tonga, west of the Samoas.
"There are a considerable number of people who've been swept out to sea and are unaccounted for," English said. "We don't have information about the full impact and we do have some real concern that over the next 12 hours the picture could look worse rather than better."
He said a New Zealand P3 Orion maritime surveillance plane would reach the region later Wednesday to search for survivors.
Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said an Australian woman has been confirmed killed in Samoa, three other Australians have been hospitalized and six other Australians remain unaccounted for after the tsunami.
Mase Akapo, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in American Samoa, reported at least 19 people killed in four different villages on the main island of Tutuila. Officials reported at least 50 injured.
In neighboring Samoa, an Associated Press reporter saw the bodies of about 20 victims in a hospital on the main island of Upolu and said the surrounding tourist coast was devastated. At least three villages were flattened.
AP reporter Keni Lesa said colleagues had reported seeing up to 40 bodies in wrecked villages, but that the additional deaths could not immediately be confirmed.
American Samoa is home to a U.S. national park that appeared to be especially hard-hit.
Reynolds, the park superintendent, said he had been able to locate only 20 percent of the park's 40 to 50 employees and volunteers.
He spoke to park service officials from Pago Pago Harbor and reported that the visitor center and offices were destroyed, according to Holly Bundock, spokeswoman for the National Park Service's Pacific West Region in Oakland, Calif.
Residents in both Samoa and American Samoa reported being shaken awake by the quake, which lasted two to three minutes and was centered about 20 miles (32 kilometers) below the ocean floor. It was followed by at least three large aftershocks of at least 5.6 magnitude.
New Zealander Graeme Ansell said the beach village of Sau Sau Beach Fale was leveled.
"It was very quick. The whole village has been wiped out," Ansell told New Zealand's National Radio from a hill near Samoa's capital, Apia. "There's not a building standing. We've all clambered up hills, and one of our party has a broken leg. There will be people in a great lot of need 'round here."
The Samoan capital was virtually deserted with schools and businesses closed.
Local media said they had reports of landslides in the Solosolo region of the main Samoan island of Upolu and damage to plantations in the countryside outside Apia.
Rescue workers found a scene of destruction and debris with cars overturned or stuck in mud, and rockslides hit some roads. Several students were seen ransacking a convenience store.
Eni Faleomavaega, who represents American Samoa as a non-voting delegate in the U.S. House, said he had talked to people by telephone who said that Pago Pago — just a few feet above sea level — was flattened. Several hundred people's homes were destroyed, but getting more concrete information has been difficult, he said.
In Washington, President Barack Obama issued a disaster declaration, making federal funds available to victims in American Samoa.
U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Lt. John Titchen said a C-130 was being dispatched Wednesday to deliver aid to American Somoa, assess damage and take the governor back home.
One of the runways at Pago Pago International Airport was being cleared of debris for emergency use, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said in Los Angeles.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it was deploying teams to American Samoa to provide support and assess damage.
The dominant industry in American Samoa — tuna canneries — was also affected. Chicken of the Sea's tuna packing plant in American Samoa was forced to close although the facility wasn't damaged, the San Diego-based company said.
The effects of the tsunami could be felt thousands of miles away, with federal officials saying strong currents and dangerous waves were forecast from California to Washington state. No major flooding was expected, however.
In Los Angeles, lifeguards said they will clear beaches at about 8 p.m. in response to an advisory for possible dangerous currents.
Japan's Meteorological Agency also issued a tsunami warning all along that country's eastern coast.
While the earthquake and tsunami were big, they were not on the same scale of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, said Brian Atwater of the U.S. Geological Survey in Seattle. That tsunami killed more than 230,000 in a dozen countries across Asia.
The 2004 quake was at least 10 times stronger than the measurements being reported for Tuesday's quake, Atwater said.
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Associated Press writers Keni Lesa in Apia, Samoa; Ray Lilley in Wellington, New Zealand; Jaymes Song and Herbert A. Sample in Honolulu and Seth Borenstein and Michele Salcedo in Washington contributed to this report.
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