Tsunamis triggered by a strong quake in the South Pacific have killed at least 90 people across a number of islands.
At least 65 people were reported dead in Samoa, more than 20 in American Samoa and at least six in Tonga.
Samoan officials say whole villages have been destroyed while thousands of people are reported to have been made homeless in American Samoa.
An 8.3-magnitude quake struck at 1748 GMT on Tuesday, generating 15ft (4.5m) waves in some areas of the islands.
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The Samoa islands comprise two separate entities – the nation of Samoa and American Samoa, a US territory. The total population is about 250,000.
A general tsunami warning was issued for the wider South Pacific region but was cancelled a few hours later.
The general manager of Samoa’s National Health Service told the BBC that 65 people had died and 145 people were injured.
US President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster in American Samoa, enabling federal funding to made available to help victims.
Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said he was shocked at the devastation.
“So much has gone. So many people are gone,” he told the AAP news agency.
False alarm
“Some of the areas are only a few feet above sea level, so you can imagine the devastation,” said Eni Faleomavaega, who represents American Samoa in the US.
High waves damaged property and swept cars out to sea
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“It caused severe damage to property, there are cars floating everywhere.”
Mr Faleomavaega told the BBC the waves had “literally wiped out all the low-lying areas in the Samoan islands”.
He said the tsunami had hit within minutes of the quake, leaving people with no time to escape.
“There would have been no warning system capable of giving adequate warning to the people,” he said.
Samoa’s Deputy PM Misa Telefoni told Australia’s AAP news agency that “the ocean went out within five minutes”.
“With the location and the intensity… I don’t know if anything better could have been done.”
Officials at the Samoa Meteorology Division said many of those who died were killed by a second wave after they went to gather fish that had been washed up after the first.
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 The water was swirling like a spa pool outwards [towards] the rim of the lagoon and in a few seconds the water sunk  Ula Osasa-Mano
Eyewitness  |
Sirens reportedly blared out across the Samoan capital, Apia, again late on Tuesday but the warning was thought to be a false alarm.
Dr Lemalu Fiu, at a hospital in Apia, said the number of casualties was expected to rise as people arrived from coastal areas.
Mr Telefoni said there were fears the major tourism areas on the west side of Upolu island had been badly hit.
“We’ve had a pretty grim picture painted of all that coast,” he said.
Australia said one of its citizens was feared dead with six missing. Both Australia and New Zealand are preparing to send emergency aid.
Samoan officials say it could take a week before the full extent of the damage is known.
A government official in Tonga said at least six people had been killed and four more were missing.
Beaches gone Buying vermox online
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) said the quake struck at a depth of 33km (20 miles), some 190km (120 miles) from Apia in Samoa.
American Samoa governor Togiola Tulafono on the ‘four waves’
Radio New Zealand quoted Samoan residents as saying that villages were inundated and homes and cars swept away.
Graeme Ansell, a New Zealander near Apia, told the radio station the beach village of Sau Sau Beach Fale had been “wiped out”.
“There’s not a building standing. We’ve all clambered up hills, and one of our party has a broken leg. There will be people in a great lot of need around here,” he said.
Witnesses have reported scenes of destruction.
“It’s horrible… The village is gone and my once beautiful beachfront villa has now been submerged in water,” Josh Nayangu told the BBC after fleeing the area on a small fishing boat with his wife and son
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Page last updated at 21:44 GMT, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 22:44 UKTsunami rescue begins in Pacific
Survivors in Samoa describe the tsunami
A major relief operation has begun in the Samoan islands, which were hit by a tsunami that killed at least 113 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 25 in American Samoa and at least six in Tonga.
Samoan officials say it could take a week before the full extent of the damage is known.
Major disaster
Amateur video footage showed villages destroyed, homes flattened, and cars lodged in treetops.
So much has gone. So many people are gone. I don’t think anybody is going to be spared in this disaster
Tuila’epe Sailele Malielegaoi
Samoan Prime Minister
Pacific tsunami: Countries hit
Big quake strikes off Indonesia
Eyewitness: On air when tsunami hit
In pictures: Pacific tsunami
Tsunami alerts warn islanders
Samoa’s vulnerable islands
Residents and tourists fled to higher ground as boats were swept inland and cars and people sucked out to sea.
US President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in American Samoa and pledged a “swift and aggressive” government response.
The European Union released an initial amount of 150,000 euros (£137,000; $220,000) in aid for the victims, and Australia and New Zealand also pledged assistance.
The Red Cross has set up camps for those who have lost their homes, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
The Samoa islands comprise two separate entities – the nation of Samoa and American Samoa, a US territory. The total population is about 250,000.
‘River of mud’
The 8.3-magnitude quake struck at 1748 GMT on Tuesday, generating 15ft (4.5m) waves in some areas of the islands.
Samoa’s Deputy Prime Minister Misa Telefoni said there were fears the major tourism areas on the west side of Upolu island – the eastern of the two main Samoan islands – had been badly hit.
Devastation in Pago Pago village, American Samoa, 30 Sept
UK toddler feared dead
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Returning New Zealand holidaymakers told of “truckloads” of bodies in the worst hit area on the southern side of Upuolo.
“We’ve seen pick-up trucks carrying the dead… back to town,” Fotu Becerra told radio Newstalk ZB, the AFP news agency reported.
Joey Cummings, a radio broadcaster in Pago Pago told the BBC that he watched from a balcony as a five-metre (15ft) wave struck, and “the air was filled with screams”.
He said a “river of mud” carried trees, cars, buses and boats past his building, which is practically at sea level.
The Prime Minister of Samoa, Tuila’epe Sailele Malielegaoi, said he was shocked at the devastation.
“So much has gone. So many people are gone,” he told Australia’s AAP news agency.
American Samoa Governor Togiola Tulafono said the effects of the tsunami would touch everyone.
“I don’t think anybody is going to be spared in this disaster,” he said.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) said the quake struck at a depth of 33km (20 miles), some 190km (120 miles) from Apia.
Small tsunamis reached areas as far away as New Zealand, Hawaii and Japan.
An Indian Ocean tsunami on 26 December 2004 – which killed about 230,000 people in 11 countries – is the worst on record.
Separately on Wednesday a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck a different fault line off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, killing at least 75 people.
A3M Tsunami Alarm System
to me
show details (S.L. Time) 30.Sept.2009 22:37 (4 hours ago)
Dear Tsunami Institute Newsletter Subscriber,
On September 29th, 2009, at 06:48 AM local time (September 29th, 2009, at 05:48 PM UTC) an earthquake occurred near the Samoa and American Samoa Islands, with a magnitude Mw 8.0 in a depth of about 18 kilometres. Because of the earthquake magnitude and the relatively shallow location of the hypocenter, there was a concrete danger of a destructive tsunami. Thus, the subscribers of the Tsunami Alarm System were informed via SMS about the event shortly after the earthquake.
A Tsunami was generated by the undersea earthquake and has killed at least 100 people in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga.
Most of the damage occurred in the Samoan islands, which include Samoa, a small nation of about 220,000 people, and American Samoa, a U.S. territory nearby with about 65,000 people.
Meteorological officials declared tsunami warnings for a number of other South Pacific islands, including Fiji and New Zealand. After approximately four hours, additional data and information were available, indicating that there was no occurrence of a widespread destructive tsunami – thus, an All-Clear Signal for the South Pacific region was sent to the subscribers of the Tsunami Alarm System.
*Geological background:
The broad-scale tectonics of the Tonga region are dominated by the relative convergence of the Pacific and Australian plates, with the Pacific plate subducting westward beneath the Australian plate at the Tonga trench. At the latitude of the earthquake of September 29, 2009, the Pacific plate moves westward with respect to the interior of the Australian plate at a velocity of about 86 mm/year. The earthquake occurred near the northern end of a 3,000 km long segment of the Pacific/Australian plate boundary that trends north-northeast.; farther north of the earthquake’s source region, the plate boundary trends northwest and then west. The eastern edge of the broad Australian plate may be viewed as a collection of small plates or microplates that move with respect to each other and with respect to the Pacific plate and the Australian plate interior.
The broad-scale Australian/Pacific plate boundary is one of the most active earthquake regions in the world. Earthquakes occur on the thrust-fault boundary between the Australian and Pacific plates, within the Pacific plate on both sides of the trench, and within and on the boundaries of the small plates that compose the eastern edge of the overall Australian plate.
Best Regards
Your Tsunami Institute Team
Sources:
Tsunami Institute Tuebingen, Germany
*United States Geological Service (2009): Earthquake Summary.
2009 September 29th
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Earthquakes weaken distant faults
San Andreas fault
The researchers took measurements from the fault over two decades
The major 2004 earthquake in Sumatra may have weakened the San Andreas fault, 8,000km away in California.
This is according to scientists who took measurements from the fault over two decades.
Reporting in the journal Nature, the team found that small “repeating earthquakes” became more frequent as the San Andreas Fault weakened.
This pattern, they say, could help to forecast earthquakes in the future, something that is currently impossible.
The team, led by Taka’aki Taira, of the University of California at Berkeley, studied a section of the San Andreas Fault near Parkfield, which is sometimes called the “earthquake capital of the world”.
The area has long been studied by earthquake researchers and it contains a fixed array of seismometers called the high resolution seismic network.
Dr Taira, who was based at Washington DC’s Carnegie Institution when he carried out the work, used measurements from these highly sensitive seismometers, some of which are several kilometres below the Earth’s surface.
It is possible that the strength of faults and earthquake risk is affected by seismic events on the other side of the world
Fenglin Niu, Carnegie Institution
Into Japan’s earthquake zone
“The equipment is at depths where the noise level is very low, so it collects very good data,” explained Dr Taira.
He and his team studied repeating earthquakes because they provided a “background frequency” against which changes in the fault could be compared.
“These events happen regularly and the size of the event is about the same,” he told BBC News.
“But after Sumatra, the frequency changed – it increased – but the magnitude decreased.
“That is a signal of the fault weakening; you only have to push a little bit and the fault fails.”
Fenglin Niu from Carnegie, who also took part in the research, said: “So it is possible that the strength of faults and earthquake risk is affected by seismic events on the other side of the world.”
The 2004 Sumatran earthquake was magnitude 9.3 – one of the strongest on record – and triggered the tsunami that killed more than 220,000 people.
The 30 September 2009 earthquake along the same fault line was measured at magnitude 7.6.