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Four-year-old Fili lies on a bed in the National Hospital in Apia - Source: Reuters -
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Grieving Samoans buried their dead in unmarked beachside graves
on Friday as the gruesome task of recovering bodies from villages
destroyed by four tsunamis continued and an aftershock shook the
region.
Some Samoans started rebuilding their South Pacific paradise,
clearing debris from shattered homes, but others remained in nearby
mountains, afraid to return to the coast for fear the ocean will
again turn deadly.
Leausa Letoa, his wife and four daughters refused to return home,
prefering to camp under a blue tarpaulin in a hilltop banana
plantation and cook what little food they have on an open
fire.
A fresh, smaller quake at magnitude 6.3 rattled the region south
of Tonga on Friday, said the US Geological Service. Tonga is west
of the international dateline and a day ahead of Samoa.
The death toll from Wednesday's tsunamis, caused by an 8 magnitude
undersea quake, is near 150 in Samoa, 31 in American Samoa and nine
in neighbouring Tonga.
Officials feared whole towns have been destroyed on outlying
islands and hundreds of people remained missing.
Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi was
near tears when he called on this tiny South Pacific island nation
to rebuild.
"The winds have uttered their strength, earth has spoken its grief
and the wave has scattered its strength," Tuilaepa said in the
chiefly Samoan language.
Thousands of Samoans are homeless and hundreds injured. Many in
the main hospital in the capital Apia have bruised faces and cuts
on their arms and legs.
Australian orthopaedic surgeon Dr Rob Atkinson said wounds were
similar to those seen in Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, which killed
230,000 people in 11 countries.
"We're seeing a lot of lacerations, tiny cuts everywhere going in
all directions thanks to the sharp rocks and coral," Atkinson said
in Apia. "They look as though they have been churned up in a
massive, really dirty, washing machine," he told
reporters.
Samoa's main morgue was full and two refrigerated shipping
containers were quickly filling up with bodies, with local media
reports the government was considering a mass burial.
Grieving Samoans
Some Samoans sat silently on the rubble on Friday, looking out to
sea, still shocked at the loss of life.
"People are staying away from devastated villages today. They're
still in shock and a lot are not ready to start again," said Oxfam
Australia aid worker Janna Hamilton.
In the devastated village of Lalomanu, which bore the brunt of the
waves that hit the south coast of Samoa's Upolu island, Biento Fua
surveyed the wreckage of his family-run resort.
Fua's 98-year-old father and 11 other family members died in
minutes when the waves hit his five-bedroom home and he's not sure
whether he can rebuild.
"Right now, not really fancying the idea of building again when it
reminds us of a place that lost our dad, and so, perhaps not," Fua
told Australian radio. "Nature's taking its course and we may need
to learn something from it."
But others, like Faaolaina Kalolo, were unfazed by the scale of
the task facing the Samoan people.
"We are so thankful to be alive. So many others in other villages
have been lost," said Kalolo, who escaped the tsunamis by fleeing
to a taro plantation in the hills when he heard his dogs barking
and running away from the sea.
"If the dogs run to safety, you follow. You run," he
said.
Prime Minister Malielegaoi called on church leaders to pray as
Samoans grieved. One mother of two, Koke, simply wept as her
daughters, Rachel, 7, and Emma, 3, were buried in an unmarked
beachside grave at Lalomanu.
Along the shore, rescuers worked frantically to recover bodies
decomposing in the South Pacific heat.
"Most of the bodies we've come across are young kids and babies,
who were already in a bad state of decomposition. It just makes you
want to cry," said Samoa's fire chief Seve Tony Hill.
Aid officials have warned of disease outbreaks with more than
1,000 people crowded into makeshift camps around Apia and a lack of
fresh water.
Add a Comment:
Post new commentjaxlino said on 2009-10-07 @ 14:15 NZDT: Report abusive post
anyone from the Satitoa village?
markservian said on 2009-10-05 @ 21:05 NZDT: Report abusive post
Tai Taufua is interviewed in this story... http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/church-comforts-many-in-samoa-3048401/video
Liviyj12 said on 2009-10-05 @ 19:30 NZDT: Report abusive post
i feel sorry fot those who have been affected.... i also feel sorry for Vai. he has lost so much of his family..:(
Micksta said on 2009-10-05 @ 11:16 NZDT: Report abusive post
My heart goes out to everyone who has lost family member/s in the earthquake and tsunami. I know what it would be like, as I was in Samoa as the earthquake struck and I read and saw the devastating effects of the tsunami that followed, both in newspapers and also for real. I would like to say that Nuu Black Sand Beach was hit my the tsunami and is in a bad state (Not that much of an attraction now).
PurpleOlive said on 2009-10-05 @ 09:04 NZDT: Report abusive post
I am so sad for all who have lost family members. We are humbled by how quickly lives can be lost. Our hearts go out to each and every one of you and I cry tears for your sweet babies. Your pain is shared by our thoughts and may you find the strength within yourselves to carry on, xox