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Tsunamis turn South Pacific paradise to deadly hell
Thu Oct 1, 2009 3:27am EDT
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By Tim Wimborne
SIUMU, Samoa (Reuters) - Rescuers pulled bodies from the mud and twisted rubble and fished bloated corpses from the South Pacifc off Samoa on Wednesday as the death toll from a series of tsunamis climbed further.
A spotter aircraft circled the ocean looking for bodies, dropping smoke flares to pinpoint their location for a boat to collect. Within an hour five were hauled ashore and the aircraft proceeded with its gruesome search.
The death toll stood at around 140, but officials said it was rising, with hundreds missing. Some 20 Polynesian villages were destroyed in Samoa and scores flattened in nearby American Samoa.
"We've seen pick-up trucks carrying the dead ... back to town," said New Zealand tourist Fotu Becerra. "We were shocked when we saw the first one but after three hours, it seemed normal."
Four powerful tsunamis generated by a huge undersea quake crashed into Samoa and American Samoa on Tuesday, destroying in minutes a paradise of palm trees, resorts and pristine beaches.
"After the earthquake happened, after about five minutes all you could hear was screaming," an unidentified Australian holidaymaker told local media.
The waves, at least 6 meters (20 feet) high, ripped buildings apart and washed people out to sea, some still sleeping in their beds, survivors said. One mother watched in horror as her three children playing in the sand were swept away. Many died after being crushed by debris swirling in the floodwaters.
Two refrigerated shipping containers, on grass behind the main hospital in the Samoan capital Apia, served as makeshift morgues after the hospital morgue could accept no more corpses.
Along the southern coast of Samoa's main island Upolu, which bore the brunt of the tsunamis, palm trees had nearly all been flattened, snapped like twigs by the force of the ocean.
A layer of mud and sand covered many shattered buildings and boats and cars hung from trees, as survivors scavenged the debris. Survivors said people were collecting dead fish, washed ashore by the waves, to feed their families.
U.S. President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in American Samoa and ordered federal aid to help the recovery.
"We have more bodies that are being found in the wreckage and being excavated and being brought to the hospital so we expect that the death toll will rise," said Dr David Bouslough at the main hospital in Pago Pago, capital of American Samoa.
BUILDINGS VANISH
Pago Pago resident Joey Cummings said buildings were not just destroyed, but had vanished, washed away by the waves.
"The harbour area where the radio station was looks like a bomb went off," Cummings told U.S. television. "If your building was not made of concrete it doesn't exist any more." Continued...
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