Tsunami kills 100 in Pacific islands
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01/10/2009
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Times Of India (New Delhi)
Samoa Villages Flattened By 20-Ft Waves
Apia (Samoa): A massive tsunami unleashed by a powerful earthquake flattened Samoan villages and swept cars and people out to sea, killing more than 100 people and leaving dozens missing on Wednesday. The death toll was expected to rise.
Survivors fled the fastchurning water for higher ground on the South Pacific islands and remained huddled there hours after the quake, with a magnitude between 8.0 and 8.3, struck around dawn.
The quake was centered about 120 miles south of the islands of Samoa and American Samoa, a US territory. Four tsunami waves 15 to 20 feet high roared ashore on American Samoa, reaching up to 1.5km inland, Mike Reynolds, superintendent of the National Park of American Samoa, was quoted as saying by a parks service spokeswoman.
Less than 24 hours later, another strong underwater earthquake rocked western Indonesia on Wednesday, briefly triggering a tsunami alert for countries along the Indian Ocean. Experts said the seismic events were not related.
The Samoan capital, Apia, was virtually deserted by afternoon, with schools and businesses closed. Hours after the waves struck, sirens rang out with another tsunami alert and panicked residents headed for higher ground again, although there was no indication of a new earthquake. In American Samoa