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Earthquakes in the South Pacific
(No, no, not the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical)
Yesterday, a magnitude 8.3 earthquake triggered tsunamis off the coast of Samoa and American Samoa. The President issued a major disaster declaration, authorizing aid to the region. The induced tsunamis reached all the way to Australia and was even observed in a much smaller fashion in Japan.
Today, a magnitude 7.6 quake hit western Indonesia, along the same fault that created the devastating 2004 tsunami.
I went to college with four students from American Samoa. Two of them were related to the current Governor (Tulafono).
I was Treasurer of the International Club for awhile and worked with those students to plan cultural awareness events. I know from them that families are very close in American Samoa and with 113 people being reported as dead it will most definitely effect every family on the islands.
Sadly, I lost contact with all of them post college and I don't even know if they returned to American Samoa, or if they were, still, living in the mainland US. I contacted the club's adviser to see if she had maintained contact with anyone from American Samoa.
This disaster may not be as big as the 2004 Tsunami, but it will be just a tragic for many families. My prayers and thoughts go out the the people of American Samoa and Western Samoa.
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