Tsunami Alert in Asia Pacific Region

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Topic started by NOV on Wed Sep 30 9:15:10 2009. [Full View]

Dozens dead, villages flat in Samoa quake, tsunami

Seventy communities hit with a death toll of at least 36 people

Agence France-PresseSeptember 29, 2009

At least 36 people were killed when an 8.0-magnitude earthquake and devastating tsunami hit the remote Pacific islands of Samoa and American Samoa Tuesday, wiping out tourist resorts and villages.

Buildings were toppled and thousands of people fled to higher ground after the offshore quake struck in the early morning, followed by giant waves which swept cars out to sea.

At least 22 were confirmed dead in American Samoa, while the Red Cross said another 14 were dead in Samoa and warned that the death toll was expected to rise amid unconfirmed reports of scores missing.

Eyewitnesses reported walls of water of between three and nine metres pounding the shore, wiping out villages and shattering holiday resorts.

Samoa's deputy prime minister Misa Telefoni said a resort area popular with foreigners was "devastated" by the tsunami that followed the monster quake and that residents and holidaymakers had little time to flee.

"We've heard that most of the resorts are totally devastated on that side of the island.

"We've had a pretty grim picture painted of all that coast," he said.

Two of the country's most popular resorts, Sinalei Reef Resort and Coconuts Beach Resort, off the west coast of the main island of Upolu, had been hit hard, he told the Australian Associated Press.

There was widespread destruction in Samoa with possibly thousands of people left homeless on the island, local journalist Jona Tuiletufuga told AFP.

"We are getting reports of missing people in areas where damage is extensive on the south and southeast coasts," he told AFP."

"Entire villages have been wiped out."

Tuiletufuga said there were up to 70 villages in the worst-hit area and each housed from 300-800 people.

Apia, capital of the independent state of Samoa and nearly 3,000 kilometres from Auckland in New Zealand, was evacuated as officials scrambled to get thousands of residents to higher ground.

Officials in American Samoa, about 100 kilometres from Samoa, said at least 22 people were dead and that the toll was expected to climb.

"It could take a week or so before we know the full extent," Michael Sala, Homeland Security director in American Samoa, told AFP.

Waves measuring around 7.5-metres high did most of the damage as they swept ashore about 20 minutes after the earthquake, demolishing buildings in coastal areas, he said.

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From: NOV on Wed Sep 30 9:19:18 2009. [Full View]

Tsunami smashes Samoas...Earthquake rocks Indonesia

APIA, Samoa (AP) Samoan villages have disappeared under a massive tsunami hurled by a powerful earthquake. The death toll is 99 and expected to climb on the pacific islands of Samoa and American Samoa where cars and people were swept out to sea.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) Witnesses tell local television hundreds of houses have come down and telephone lines are not working in Indonesia after a powerful offshore earthquake along the same fault line the spawned the massive 2004 Asian tsunami. The preliminary magnitude has been put between 7.6 and 7.9. but a tsunami alert has been lifted.
From: NOV on Wed Sep 30 9:33:38 2009. [Full View]

Powerful Indonesia quake felt in Malaysia

Agence France-Presse
First Posted 20:54:00 09/30/2009

Filed Under: Disasters (general), Earthquake

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's west coast felt tremors late Wednesday following a powerful 7.9-magnitude that struck off neighboring Indonesia's Sumatra island, the Meteorological Department said.

In the capital Kuala Lumpur, hundreds of people ran out of their office buildings after they felt the tremor.

"Some states in the west coast of Malaysia felt the tremor," the Meteorological Department said it a statement but an official told AFP that it was not issuing a tsunami warning.

A 36-year-old employee of a foreign bank in the 30-storey Menara IMC building said she felt "dizzy" when the tremor hit.

"I felt dizzy and I felt like I was going to faint," she told AFP.

"Then there was an announcement to evacuate the building. Hundreds of people ran out of the building," she said.

In Indonesia's Sumatra island, which is separated from Malaysia by the narrow Malacca Strait, large buildings were reported destroyed" and communications cut off by the earthquake.
From: NOV on Wed Sep 30 9:35:04 2009. [Full View]

Malaysia TV news said that a Tsunami alert has been placed on India, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia!

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