Tsunami reportedly hits capital after temblor centered southwest of islands
NBC News and news services
updated 3 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - A tsunami struck the capital of American Samoa on Tuesday after an offshore earthquake that U.S. government agencies said registered 7.9 magnitude.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or structural damage.
Fili Sagapolutele, who works at the Samoa News, says water flowed inland about 100 yards before receding, leaving cars stuck in mud.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, a branch of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, issued a tsunami warning for Hawaii, Papua New Guinea and other Pacific Islands after the quake hit about 120 miles southwest of the remote Pacific island of American Samoa. It struck at a depth of 20.5 miles.
The bulletin estimated a tsunami, if powerful enough to reach Hawaii, would reach the island state approximately 1 p.m. local time (7 p.m. ET).
The warning was issued because a quake of this magnitude had the power to generate a destructive tsunami, the warning center said.
In 2004, a 9.0 quake in the Indian Ocean generated a powerful tsunami that killed tens of thousands people in Asia.
The representative from American Samoa to the U.S. Congress, Eni Faleomavaega, told NBC News that quake hit between the North Marianas Islands and American Samoa, creating 10 to 15- foot waves in populated low-lying areas like Pago Pago Bay.
"Cars were seen floating," the congressman said of Pago Pago Bay.
He said there will likely need to be mass evacuations of low-lying areas and there will be requests for assistance from Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
He said he didn't have any reports on injuries.
The U.S. State Department also said there was no word of American casualties or evacuees.
(CNN) -- An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 struck in the Samoan Islands region Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 struck in the Samoan Islands region Tuesday.
The temblor generated a nearly 10-foot (3-meter) tsunami -- measured from crest to trough -- according to preliminary data, said Chip McCreery, the director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa Beach, Hawaii.
A tsunami warning was in effect for American Samoa, Samoa, Cook Islands, Tonga and Fiji, among others in the South Pacific archipelago, according to a bulletin from the center.
A tsunami watch was issued for islands farther from the epicenter, including Hawaii and Papua New Guinea. See a map of where the earthquake hit »
Officials were determining whether the tsunami could reach Hawaii, the center said.
The quake is not expected to generate a tsunami along the west coast of the United States or Canada, according to the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center.
Further details were not immediately available.
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There were no immediate reports of damage.
The quake was recorded at 6:48 a.m. (1:28 p.m. ET) at a depth of about 7.4 miles (11.9 km), the USGS reported
I know we have some members from down in Australia, but I'm not sure if anyone is from New Zealand or any of the smaller islands around there.
Survivors of a deadly earthquake-triggered tsunami which hit the Samoan islands Tuesday have described how they watched the inrushing sea swallow up coastal towns and villages leaving devastation in its wake.
iReporter Alden Tagarino captured this image of the damage caused by the tsunami in Pago Pago.
1 of 4more photos »
At least 111 people are confirmed killed in Samoa, neighboring American Samoa and Tonga. But officials in the Polynesia region have expressed fears the toll will rise as rescue workers struggle to reach outlying villages submerged and flattened by the wave.
American Samoa resident Frances Faumatu told CNN she had fled to Aoloau, the highest village on the island, as the earthquake shook her house.
"All of a sudden we heard on the radio everybody had to run for safety," she said. "Right after the quake, the tsunami came."
Faumatu and others stayed on the mountain for two or three hours until the warning was lifted, watching as the sea swallowed Pago Pago, island's capital, and then receded.
At least 22 people are confirmed dead in the U.S. island territory. Cars, debris, and parts of buildings were randomly strewn over the landscape where the powerful waters dropped them. See iReporter images of the aftermath »
But in some cases, the sea left nothing behind. "Other villages were taken to the ocean," Faumatu said.
"I can't even compare the image. It's one thing to see a photo or footage, but just to be there in person is pretty dramatic," Maneafaiga T. Lagafuaina told CNN Wednesday. "American Samoa itself is experiencing a great loss."
The 8.0-magnitude quake hit the small cluster of Samoan islands in the South Pacific early Tuesday.
In Samoa, the death toll stands at 82, according to government minister Maulolo Tavita. But he said he feared the number of causalities would continue to rise.
Around 220,000 people live on the two main islands which make up the nation of Samoa. The population of American Samoa is about 66,000. See a map of the affected region »
Salamo Laumoli, director of health services at the LBJ Tropical Medical Center in Pago Pago, said he feared more fatalities would turn up as rescue workers strived to access parts of the island severed by damaged infrastructure.
Patients at the hospital were briefly moved to higher ground, but they were soon brought back and the hospital is operating, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency said. The airport in the capital of Pago Pago was also operational and being used for emergency flights, FEMA said.
"The wave came onshore and washed out people's homes," said Cinta Brown, an American Samoa homeland security official working at the island's emergency operations center.
The same happened on the hard-hit east and west sides of American Samoa, said Brown, who was standing in a parking lot when her sport utility vehicle began rocking left and right.
She said she could hear the rattling of metal of a large chain-link fence around the lot. "It shakes you because you know something else is coming," she said.
The British Foreign Office said one of the dead in American Samoa was a British national, but no other details were provided.
In Tonga, Lord Tuita, the acting prime minister, said at least seven people had been confirmed dead on the northern island of Niuatoputapu. Three others were missing and four people were being treated for serious injuries, he said.
"The hospital on the island is reported to have suffered major damage; telephone communications has been cut as a result of damage to equipment and facilities on the island; homes and government buildings have been destroyed; the airport runway has been severely damaged making it impossible for any fixed wing aircraft to land," a statement from the Tongan prime minister's office said. Were you there? Send us your photos and video
A series of aftershocks reverberated through the region Tuesday as reports emerged of entire villages flattened or submerged by the tsunami. The walls of water were so strong that they twisted concrete beams and mangled cars. See an explainer on tsunamis »
Laumoli said people in outlying villages on one end of the main American Samoa island had been cut off because the connecting bridge was washed away. Listen to Laumoli speak about the impact of the quake and tsunami »
American Samoa Gov. Togiola Tulafono, speaking from Hawaii, said Tuesday's quake ranked "right up there with some of the worst" disasters on the island. He said he had spoken to the military about mobilizing reserve forces for assistance.
Tulafono was on his way back home from Hawaii on Tuesday night on one of two U.S. Coast Guard transport planes delivering aid. He told reporters Tuesday it had been hard being away from home as the disaster unfolded. It was a time, he said, for families to be together.
President Obama declared American Samoa a major disaster area, ordering federal aid to supplement local efforts.
A U.S. Defense Department official said 75 members of the Hawaii National Guard were ordered to American Samoa to begin assisting with medical relief, search and rescue and providing communications capabilities on the island. The unit will bring enough supplies to sustain themselves for 96 hours and its expected more aid from the military could begin flowing in, the official said.
The Coast Guard is transporting more than 20 officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to American Samoa, said John Hamill, external affairs officer for FEMA in Oakland, California.
The FEMA team will include a variety of debris experts, housing experts, members of the Corps of Engineers, and other disaster relief specialists, Hamill said.
The quake generated three separate tsunami waves, the largest measuring 5.1 feet from sea level height, said Vindell Hsu, a geophysicist with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. Preliminary data had originally reported a larger tsunami.
At my previous job, I used to go to American Samoa 2-3 times a year. I've been there about 10 times in total, the last time being last December.
Samoans kind of get a bad rap in Hawaii and in the states sometimes, but when I've been on their island, they have always been the friendliest and most hospitable culture that I've met.
It really feels like a small community there where you feel like you know half the people on the island. I'm praying for everyone there.
It's bad in Indonesia because the quake practically destroyed the capitol and many of the highrises toppled.
They have horrible history with quakes. That story says over 5,000 of their people died in 2006 from a quake, and then there was the one from 2004 that I'm sure everyone remembers. And 57 people died earlier this year because of another quake.
Edit: And now there is a Super Typhoon (240kmph/150mph winds) on its way to the Philippines...a few days after they got hit by one that killed 246 (and others in other countries).
JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- At least 1,100 people are dead in Indonesia as a result of two large earthquakes in as many days, United Nations humanitarian chief John Holmes told reporters Thursday.
Family members mourn in front of a collapsed school in Padang on Thursday.
Family members mourn in front of a collapsed school in Padang on Thursday.
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Hundreds more are believed to be injured, Holmes said. "These numbers, I fear, will rise as more information becomes available," he said. "It's still feared that thousands of people are trapped under damaged houses and many buildings."
Telecommunications are difficult into the region, roads are cut off and the hardest-hit area, including the city of Padang, lacks power and other services, Holmes said. Heavy rainfall also has hindered search and rescue efforts.
Corpses lay stacked outside hospitals in Padang as night fell Thursday, casting nearly the entire city in darkness.
The 6.6 magnitude quake Thursday hit South Sumatra (9:52 p.m. Wednesday ET), about 100 miles (160 km) from Bengkulu, the U.S. Geological Survey said. An earlier quake Wednesday had a magnitude of 7.6.
Worst hit was the West Sumatran capital of Padang, where officials estimate 376 people perished.
Rustam Pakaya, the head of the Ministry of Health's crisis center, said thousands of people may be trapped by collapsed buildings and houses.
Officials say casualties could surpass those of the massive Yogyakarta earthquake three years ago, given the intensity and the spread of the damage this week. The second set of tremors Thursday only magnified the scope of the disaster.
In May 2006, a 6.3 magnitude quake centered in the central Java city of Yogyakarta killed more than 5,000 people and triggered fears of an eruption of a nearby volcano.
On Thursday, many people were wandering the streets of Padang "stunned and dazed," said CNN's Mark Phillips. Some were searching the rubble for survivors, he said, but "there's also a feeling that there aren't that many survivors left."
Wednesday's quake reduced buildings to rubble in Padang, a city of nearly 1 million. People used hammers, chisels and bare hands to dig through debris. Staff at a local hospital treated the injured outside the semi-collapsed building as bodies lay in makeshift morgues.
The earthquakes caused widespread power and phone outages, making it difficult for authorities and aid organizations to evaluate damage.
Thursday evening, the only light came from generators at Padang's hospital and airport. Several of the hospital's buildings were severely damaged, said CNN's Dan Rivers. Damage in the town itself was spotty; some buildings remained intact near others in ruins.
In Padang, thousands of people slept outside Wednesday night for fear of more tremors, said Yenni Suryani of Catholic Relief Services. She said rain fell Wednesday night and people are in desperate need of adequate shelter.
Amelia Merrick, the operations director for World Vision Indonesia, described the situation as "quite devastating."
"Bridges have gone down, phone lines are in total disrepair," she said. "It's difficult for us to assess the situation."
Wayne Ulrich, the Red Cross disaster management coordinator in Indonesia, said hundreds of houses were damaged, the extent still unclear.
"We have concerns that a hospital has been partially damaged; a market has caught on fire; the airport was closed down for inspection because of the fear if they landed any planes" it might cause problems, Ulrich said.
He said access to the impacted areas was obstructed in parts.
It's "blocked by all kinds of problems: frightened people out in the streets, cars and people trying to get out of the city."
Wednesday's quake was felt in nearby cities including Medan and Bengkulu, where people panicked and ran outside in search of higher ground, fearing a tsunami. But it was also felt as far away as Singapore and Malaysia.
"I did feel the tremor in the office today somewhere between 5 and 6 p.m.," said Ratna Osman, who works in a single-story office building in Petaling Jaya, just outside Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur. "I asked [a co-worker] if there's an earthquake somewhere -- either that or I was hallucinating.
"At first, I thought the chair I was sitting on had a screw loose or something," Osman said.
The region is accustomed to earthquakes, and locals have been taught to identify safe places in case of a tsunami, according to Sean Granville-Ross, the Mercy Corps country director for Indonesia.
"We hope that preparation is now paying off," he said.
Earlier this month, an earthquake in West Java killed 57 people.
The Web site for one of Indonesia's main newspapers, The Jakarta Globe, crashed for a while, partly as a result of the heavy traffic from people trying to find out about the quake, the paper said in a Twitter post.
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Aid agencies kicked into gear to help those in need.
"We had aid ready because this area of Indonesia is susceptible to this type of tragedy," said Jane Cocking, humanitarian director for Oxfam. "Communications with the quake-zone are difficult, and we are hoping for the best but having to plan for the worst."
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7.9 magnitude quake hits off American Samoa
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