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WASHINGTON, Oct. 9, 2009 – The USS Ingraham was one of the first responders to provide humanitarian relief to victims of a natural disaster in American Samoa, the ship’s commanding officer said. The U.S. territory in the Pacific Ocean was hit by an earthquake-caused tsunami Sept. 29. Navy Cmdr. Matthew Ovios explained how his ship’s crew assisted with rescue efforts and humanitarian relief during a “DoDLive” bloggers roundtable Oct. 7. The Ingraham was deployed in the western Pacific Ocean and heading to American Samoa for a regular port visit when the crew was notified of a tsunami warning. The crew...

Pictures of before and after the devastation of the tsunami in Samoa.

Wife just rang from Samoa, reported second earthquake 5.9 magnitude, no tsunami warning yet, happened about 20 mins ago.

It took only eight minutes after the most powerful earthquake she'd ever felt knocked her to the ground, for a wall of water to slam through the sleepy Samoan surf resort where she was staying and sweep it away. As she fled in a van, Cristiane "Kiki" Martins said she and others screamed at villagers to escape to higher ground. But the Paia resident said she saw some families stay behind in their homes, waiting for a warning or evacuation order that wouldn't come in time. Back home safely on Friday, but still fragile and shaky from her ordeal, Martins...

HONOLULU — On a search-and-rescue mission in a tsunami-stricken American Samoa village, Capt. Nate Duff and his Hawaii Air National Guard troops waded through knee-deep swampland and under trucks hanging from trees in hopes of finding missing children. Duff's medical team was the first government relief agency to reach the fishing town of Leone following the tsunami, one of dozens of American rescue squads spread throughout the wrecked islands delivering personal help, food, tents and medical supplies. "The air stunk with ... hundreds of dead fish and animals, and rotting food and debris," Duff wrote in an e-mail to his...

Samoa is planning a mass burial for victims of the tsunami, the government said Friday. The funeral will take place next Tuesday, a week after the deadly waves swept ashore following a powerful 8.0-magnitude earthquake. There were 123 confirmed dead in Samoa with another 16 people missing, government spokeswoman Vaosa Epa said Friday. There were 32 confirmed dead in neighbouring American Samoa and nine killed in nearby Tonga. Samoan families who have already buried their dead in their own villages would have the choice of leaving them to rest in the family plot or transferring them to the mass grave...

ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 2, 2009 – A physician assistant from the Hawaii Air National Guard’s 154th Wing provided his unit at Hickam Air Force Base with a first-hand account from tsunami-torn American Samoa. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Carissa Maxson of the Hawaii Air National Guard studies the shorelines of Pago Pago, American Samoa, Oct. 1, 2009, while conducting assessments of the area after a tsunami stuck there Sept. 29. Maxson is with the 154th Medical Group's Chemical, Biological, Radiological/Nuclear and Explosives Enhanced Response Force Package. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech Sgt. Cohen A. Young  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 2, 2009 – The medical support situation in American Samoa has stabilized amid ongoing U.S. relief efforts after a massive tsunami devastated the area this week, a Defense Department official said today. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Kimo McKee, Hawaii Air National Guard loadmaster, directs the loading of humanitarian aid supplies into a C-17 Globemaster III bound for American Samoa to assist in relief efforts in the wake of tsunamis triggered by Sept. 29, 2009, undersea earthquake. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Mike Meares  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Medical triage, casualty care, shelter and bedding...

A POWERFUL earthquake has struck off Tonga and the Samoan islands as the Sumatran death toll rises further. The 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck off Tonga and the Samoan islands today, two days after a giant tremor caused a devastating tsunami which killed almost 150. No immediate tsunami alert was issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii.

Surfer 'rode Samoa tsunami' to escape death October 02, 2009 11:00am A SURFER escaped death in the Pacific tsunami by riding out the giant waves that surged over the Pacific Island. New Zealand student Chris Nel was surfing on the south coast of Savai'i island when the 8.3 magnitude quake struck on Wednesday morning, The Dominion Post newspaper reported. He had been in the water with four other New Zealand surfers and an Australian when the tsunami appeared. Meanwhile, Samoan disaster officials said they fear up to 150 people may have died in a massive tsunami that pounded the Pacific...

APIA, Samoa (AP) — Convoys of military vehicles brought food, water and medicine to the tsunami-stricken Samoas on Thursday as victims wandered through what was left of their villages with tales of being trapped underwater, watching young children drown and hoisting elderly parents above the waves. The death toll rose to 160 as grim-faced islanders gathered under a traditional meetinghouse to hear a Samoan government minister discuss a plan for a mass funeral and burial next Tuesday. Samoans traditionally bury their loved ones near their homes, but that could be impractical because many of their villages have been wiped out....

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.