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APIA, Samoa – Samoans searched flattened homes and debris-filled swamps, while dazed survivors told of being trapped underwater or flung inland by a tsunami that ravaged towns and killed at least 150 people in the South Pacific. The day after the disaster struck, officials were expecting the death toll to rise as more areas were searched. "To me it was like a monster — just black water coming to you. It wasn't a wave that breaks, it was a full force of water coming straight," said Luana Tavale, an American Samoa government employee. Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele's own village...

PADANG, Indonesia (AP) - Rescue workers pulled victims, some screaming in pain, from the heavy rubble of buildings felled by a powerful earthquake that killed more than 700 people. The death toll was still expected to rise. The brunt of Wednesday's 7.6-magnitude earthquake, which originated in the sea off Sumatra island, appeared to have been borne by Padang town. Four other districts accounted for the remaining deaths. A government official told The Associated Press that at least 777 people are confirmed to have died in the quake, with about 300 seriously injured. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 2009 – In response to Federal Emergency Management Agency requests, National Guard assets from Hawaii continue to provide air-cargo operations and other support to tsunami victims on American Samoa, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters here today. Airmen from the 204th Airlift Wing of the Hawaii Air National Guard load a vehicle onto a C-17 Globemaster III Sept. 30, 2009 at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, in preparation for departure for a humanitarian mission in American Samoa. The island nation was devastated by an earthquake and Tsunami, Sept. 29, 2009. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt....

SIUMU, Samoa, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Rescuers fished bloated corpses from the South Pacific off Samoa and pulled bodies from the mud and twisted rubble of devastated islands as the death toll from a series of tsunamis neared 200 on Thursday. Officials feared it could go much higher. A spotter aircraft circled the ocean looking for bodies, dropping smoke flares to pinpoint their location for a boat to collect. Within an hour five were hauled ashore. The confirmed death toll stood at 149 in Samoa, 31 on American Samoa and nine on neighboring Tonga, but officials feared that whole towns...

Premiers Thursday, September 17 @ 8PM EDT/PDT on SeeBS 20 new contestants will compete for the $1 million prize on the islands of Samoa Who will be the sole Survivor?

A major relief operation has begun in the Samoan islands, which were hit by a tsunami that killed at least 119 people and wiped out villages and resorts. Rescue officials said planes carrying medics, food, water and other supplies were heading to the stricken Pacific islands of Samoa and American Samoa. They said tens of thousands of people need help in villages swamped by waves triggered by a huge earthquake. The United Nations said it was sending an emergency team to Samoa. According to the latest reports, at least 83 people were killed in Samoa, more than 30 in American...

An early warning system introduced after the disastrous Christmas 2004 tsunami worked as planned, U.S. officials say, but failed to prevent the deaths of more than 100 people in Samoa and American Samoa on Tuesday because of the proximity of the originating earthquake. It was the first practical test of the system, set up in response to the 2004 wave that killed more than 220,000 people in the Indian Ocean region, primarily in Indonesia. Officials scrambled after an 8.0-magnitude earthquake shook just before dawn Tuesday, and after a flurry of phone calls within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA)...

AFP – This photo taken on September 29, after an 8.0-magnitude quake and tsunami struck in the early morning … APIA (AFP) – Dozens of aftershocks rocked the South Pacific Wednesday, 24 hours after a huge earthquake churned up towering tsunamis that killed at least 113 people when they wiped out villages and flattened tourist resorts. Huge waves that witnesses and officials said measured between three and 7.5 metres high pounded the remote Pacific islands of Samoa and Western Samoa after an 8.0-magnitude undersea quake struck early Tuesday. While the quake toppled buildings and sent thousands fleeing to high ground...

Twenty-five members of the Federal Emergency Management Agency are now on their way from the Bay Area to American Samoa. They are bringing no equipment, just their expertise in coordinating disaster rescue and recovery.

Disaster Highlights Challenge of Establishing Effective Warning Systems See link for slides....

President Obama has declared the U.S. territory of American Samoa a major disaster after an undersea earthquake caused a tsunami and massive flooding that has reportedly killed more than 80 people in the South Pacific Samoan Islands. The declaration makes federal funding available to people in American Samoa, which has a population of about 65,000 people.

Video showing a walk-through from the scene on American Samoa.

APIA, Samoa – A police official says 63 people are confirmed dead in Samoa following a tsunami that smashed the southern shore of the South Pacific nation. Samoan police commissioner Lilo Maiava told The Associated Press that police have confirmed 63 deaths, and officials are still searching the devastated areas, so the number of deaths might rise soon. A powerful Pacific Ocean earthquake with a magnitude between 8.0 and 8.3 spawned towering tsunami waves that swept ashore early Tuesday on Samoa and American Samoa, flooding and flattening villages, killing dozens of people and leaving scores of others missing. At least...

M7.9 - Samoa Islands region - 2009 September 29 17:48:19

BULLETIN TSUNAMI MESSAGE NUMBER 1 NWS PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER EWA BEACH HI 805 AM HST TUE SEP 29 2009 TO - CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE STATE OF HAWAII SUBJECT - TSUNAMI WATCH A TSUNAMI WATCH IS ISSUED FOR THE STATE OF HAWAII EFFECTIVE AT 0805 AM HST. AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS ORIGIN TIME - 0748 AM HST 29 SEP 2009 COORDINATES - 15.3 SOUTH 171.0 WEST LOCATION - SAMOA ISLANDS REGION MAGNITUDE - 7.9 MOMENT EVALUATION BASED ON ALL AVAILABLE DATA A TSUNAMI MAY HAVE BEEN GENERATED BY THIS EARTHQUAKE THAT COULD BE DESTRUCTIVE ON...

10 foot tsunami also hit Samoa: http://news.bnonews.com/upti less than a minute ago

Magnitude 7.9 Date-Time * Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 17:48:14 UTC * Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 06:48:14 AM at epicenter Location 15.554°S, 172.141°W Depth 35 km (21.7 miles) set by location program Region SAMOA ISLANDS REGION Distances * 199 km (124 miles) SSW (192°) from APIA, Samoa * 211 km (131 miles) SW (227°) from PAGO PAGO, American Samoa * 396 km (246 miles) NNE (30°) from Neiafu, Tonga * 2415 km (1501 miles) W (272°) from PAPEETE, Tahiti, French Polynesia Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 11.9 km (7.4 miles); depth fixed by location program Parameters NST= 59, Nph= 59,...

Major 7.9 Earthquake 120 Miles off the American Samoa coast. Developing.

A vision on the Blessed Virgin Mary has appeared on the wall of a building in downtown Apia, the capital of Samoa. This just weeks after a huge convention of Catholics filled the streets of Apia for a conference and march. Followed by prayers for the "road switch" which occurred on Sept 7th when they switched from driving on the Right Hand side to the Left.

The small Pacific island country of Samoa is suffering a case of national road rage over government plans to switch to driving on the left early next month. The nation of around 180,000 people is due to change from driving on the right-hand side on September 7, in what is believed to be the first switch since Nigeria, Ghana and Yemen shifted to the right in the 1970s and Sweden did so in 1967. Since the government announced the plan in 2007, huge protest marches have been held, more than a sixth of the population has signed a petition calling...