S. Pacific countries assess tsunami damage

The death toll from tsunami waves spawned by a powerful earthquake in the South Pacific will likely rise as emergency crews continue to assess the devastation in the region, officials said Wednesday

Officials said the massive tsunami that swept ashore in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga, flattening villages and sweeping cars and people out to sea, has left at least 119 dead and dozens more missing.

Power and communication outages remained Wednesday and officials said they were still struggling to determine the extent of the damages and casualties.

Tuesday's quake, with a magnitude between 8.0 and 8.3, struck around dawn about midway between Samoa and American Samoa.

Four tsunami waves between four and six metres in height roared ashore on American Samoa, reaching up to 1.6 kilometres inland, said Mike Reynolds, superintendent of the National Park of American Samoa.

At least 83 deaths have been confirmed in Samoa, another 30 people were killed on American Samoa and six in Tonga, according to officials.

The Department of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa said Wednesday that it is only aware of one Canadian who has been affected by the tsunami. That person was not injured and is receiving aid from the Australian High Commission in Samoa, which is responsible for Canadian consular activities on the island.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs said three Australians are among the dead. The British Foreign Office said one Briton was missing and presumed dead.

'So many people are gone'

"So much has gone. So many people are gone," Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said as he boarded a flight to return to the capital of Apia on Wednesday from Auckland, N.Z. "I'm so shocked, so saddened by all the loss."

Malielegaoi said his own village of Lepa was among at least 20 villages that were destroyed by the waves.

"I don't think anybody is going to be spared in this disaster," said American Samoa Gov. Togiola Tulafono, who lost a member of his extended family to the waves.

Signs of the devastation caused by the waves were apparent on Wednesday, as schools and businesses remained closed.

In American Samoa, streets and fields were filled with ocean debris, mud, overturned cars and several boats.

"Some areas have been flattened and the tsunami brought a lot of sand on shore, so there have been reports the sand has covered some of the bodies," Ausegalia Mulipola, assistant chief executive of Western Samoa's disaster management office, told Reuters. "So we need specialized machines to search for bodies that are buried under the sand."

Some areas are expected to be without electricity for up to a month.

15,000 people affected

The Samoa Red Cross said it has opened five temporary shelters and estimated that about 15,000 people were affected by the tsunami.

A New Zealand P3 Orion maritime surveillance airplane had reached the region Wednesday afternoon and will search for survivors off the coast.

Early Wednesday, U.S. President Barack Obama declared a major disaster for American Samoa. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has also deployed teams, including C-130 military transport aircraft, to provide support and assess damage.

Hundreds of injured people were being treated by health workers, and people were still struggling into centres seeking treatment, said Samoan police commissioner Lilo Maiava.

Japan's Meteorological Agency said Wednesday "very weak" tsunami waves were registered off the island of Hachijojima, which is about 7,600 kilometres northwest of Samoa. Small waves were also reported in New Zealand and Hawaii.

U.S. officials said strong currents and dangerous waves were forecast from California to Washington state on Wednesday but no major flooding is expected.

The earthquake and tsunami were large, but not on the same scale of the Indonesian tsunami that killed more than 150,000 across Asia the day after Christmas in 2004, said tsunami expert Brian Atwater of the U.S. Geological Survey in Seattle.

The 2004 earthquake was at least 10 times stronger than the 8.0 to 8.3 measurements being reported for Tuesday's quake.

Meanwhile in western Indonesia, a strong underwater quake hit on Wednesday. It briefly triggered a tsunami alert for countries along the Indian Ocean and sent panicked residents out of their houses as buildings collapsed.