The Ocean Attacks Again!

Pulse

oi-Staff

By Staff

Wednesday, September 30, 2009, 12:04

The sea turns villain again in human lives. The magnificent waves of the sea took the lives of hundreds of people in Samoa and other Pacific islands. The sea attacked in the form of tsunami and the death toll triggered by an 8.3 magnitude earthquake.

The confirmed death toll from the South Pacific earthquake and tsunami is at 36, with a minimum of 14 reported dead in both Samoa and American Samoa. The tsunami had devastated villages on the south of the island, and the number of people feared dead was far higher. Now, 100 people, including tourists that are missing right now because of the waves that hit hard.

A large number of the dead were believed to be from Lalomanu, a village on Samoa"s southeastern tip popular with tourists, she said. It is not known if the whether 100 are from people swept out [to sea] or from when tremors shook and people were buried in their own houses. A Samoan schoolgirl whose village was evacuated to the mountains around Apia also said local radio reported hundreds of people were killed when the tsunami hit Lalomanu.

The first wave hit so quickly after the tremor that locals had little time to react.