The diaster to some of us its just another news, but the victims it’s call for help. Donation can be made to official site Help Samoa
SIUMU, Samoa (Reuters) – Relief workers in American Samoa and Samoa searched for survivors on Thursday after a series of tsunamis smashed into the tiny Pacific islands, killing more than 100 people, flattening villages and leaving thousands homeless.
Television images showed homes ripped apart, cars submerged in the sea or lodged in trees and large fishing boats hurled ashore by the waves generated by an 8.0 magnitude earthquake southwest of American Samoa, a U.S. territory.
Some victims were washed out to sea by waves that reached at least 6 meters (20 feet) high.
At least 83 people were killed in Samoa, with no clear picture of how many were still unaccounted for, Asuegalia Mulipola, assistant chief executive of Samoa’s Disaster Management Office, told Reuters.
Mulipola said at least 170 to 180 people were injured, with a more complete toll expected later in the day.
Togiola Tulafono, governor of American Samoa, said at least 24 people were killed there and 50 injured, with the southern portion of the main island of Tutuila “devastated.” The toll may rise as rescuers search buildings, including a seniors’ center.
Officials in the neighboring island nation of Tonga confirmed seven people killed there and three missing. The two Samoas and Tonga have a combined population of about 400,000 people and rely on subsistence agriculture, fishing and tourism.
The wave came about 200 meters (656 feet) onshore, destroying everything in its path, said Tim Wimborne, a Reuters photographer traveling on the south coast of Upolu in Samoa.
“Where it has come in, it’s devastated the place, snapping trees off at the bases, houses are gone, foundations moved and concrete walls pushed over,” he said. “There’s nothing left standing at all.”
3,000 LEFT HOMELESS
Locals were beginning to clean up, searching the tangle of wreckage along the coastline for their possessions, Wimborne said. The work of shifting heavy debris such as roofs and walls was being done by hand, with little heavy machinery available.
Radio New Zealand, quoting Samoan disaster authorities, said 32,000 people were affected by the tsunami, with some 3,000 left homeless.
A second earthquake, of 7.9 magnitude, hit the Indonesian island of Sumatra late on Wednesday, prompting the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center to issue a tsunami watch for Indonesia, India, Thailand and Malaysia.
The prime minister of Samoa, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, said the death toll in his nation was expected to rise.
“It was fortunate … the tsunami struck when it was daylight and the tide was also low,” he told Reuters. “If it had come in the dark and the tide was high, the number of people who died would be much higher.”
