Tsunami in South Pacific kills nearly 100

APIA – A massive tsunami hurled by a powerful earthquake flattened Samoan villages and swept cars and people out to sea, killing at least 99 and leaving dozens missing Wednesday. The toll was expected to rise.

Survivors fled the fast-churning water for higher ground on the South Pacific islands and remained huddled there hours after the quake, with a magnitude between 8.0 and 8.3, struck around dawn on Tuesday.The quake was centered about 200 kilometres from Samoa, an island nation of 180 000 people located about halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii. It was about 190 kilometres from neighbouring American Samoa, a US territory that is home to 65 000 people.Four tsunami waves 4 to 6 metres high roared ashore on American Samoa, reaching up to 1,5 kilometres inland, Mike Reynolds, superintendent of the National Park of American Samoa, was quoted as saying by a parks service spokeswoman.The same day, western Indonesia was rocked by a strong underwater quake, briefly triggering a tsunami alert for countries along the Indian Ocean and sending panicked residents out of their houses. The alert was later canceled.The Samoan capital, Apia, was virtually deserted by afternoon, with schools and businesses closed. Hours after the waves struck, fresh sirens rang out with another tsunami alert and panicked residents headed for higher ground again, although there was no indication of a new quake.In American Samoa’s capital of Pago Pago, the streets and fields were filled with ocean debris, mud, overturned cars and several boats as a massive cleanup effort continued into the night. Several buildings in the city – just a few feet above sea level – were flattened. Several areas were expected to be without electricity for up to a month.In Washington, President Obama has declared a major disaster for American Samoa.In a statement issued early yesterday, Obama said he and his wife, Michelle, ‘will keep those who have lost so much in our thoughts and prayers.’Hampered by power and communications outages, officials in the South Pacific islands struggled to determine damage and casualties.Samoan police commissioner Lilo Maiava told The Associated Press that police there had confirmed 63 deaths but that officials were still searching the devastated areas, so the number of deaths might rise soon.At least 30 people were killed on American Samoa, Governor Togiola Tulafono said, adding that the toll was expected to rise as emergency crews were recovering bodies overnight.’I don’t think anybody is going to be spared in this disaster,’ said Tulafono, who was in Hawaii for a conference. He added that a member of his extended family was among the dead in the disaster.Authorities in Tonga confirmed at least six additional people dead in the island nation west of the Samoas, New Zealand’s acting Prime Minister Bill English said. He said Tongan officials told him that four people were missing after the tsunami swept ashore on the northern island of Niua.Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told Seven Network in Australia that two Australians had died, including a 6-year-old girl. The British Foreign Office said one Briton was missing and presumed dead.Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi looked shaken yesterday on board a flight from Auckland, New Zealand, to the Samoan capital of Apia.’So much has gone. So many people are gone,’ he told reporters on board. ‘I’m so shocked, so saddened by all the loss.’The effects of the tsunami could be felt nearly 7 500 kilometres on a Japanese island, though there were no reports of damage or injuries there. US officials said strong currents and dangerous waves were forecast from California to Washington state. No major flooding was expected, however. 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 US Geological Survey in Seattle. That tsunami killed more than 230 000 in a dozen countries across Asia. – Nampa-AP