Samoa hit by Earthquake and Tsunami

With changes in weather patterns and increased natural disasters, such as earthquakes and tsunamis, many people around the world living on islands have much to worry about. We saw the people of Philippines having to suffer floods caused by Typhoon Ketsana last week, and now Samoans are battling effects of an earthquake and a resultant tsunami.

From The Star..
PAGO PAGO (American Samoa): A powerful Pacific Ocean earthquake spawned towering tsunami waves that swept ashore on Samoa and American Samoa early Tuesday, flattening villages, killing dozens of people and leaving several workers missing at devastated National Park Service facilities.


Cars and people were swept out to sea by the fast-churning water as survivors fled to high ground, where they remained huddled hours later. Signs of devastation were everywhere, with a giant boat getting washed ashore and coming to rest 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 about 200km from Samoa, a South Pacific island nation of about 180,000 people located about halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii.

It struck about 190km from neighbouring American Samoa, a US territory of about 65,000 people.

Four tsunami waves of 4-6m high roared ashore soon afterward, reaching up to 1.6km inland. Continue reading..

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