Samoa Tsunami

At Janine’s request we  made contact with one particular family that have lost many of their loved ones in the devastation that occurred in Samoa when a tsunami was triggered by an undersea earthquake. We have heard reports that many of the local residents of these villages were engulfed by four tsunami wave 15 to 20 feet high that reached up to a mile inland.

Sone Mariner a chief from the village of Lalomanu 40km southwest of Apia is now working tirelessly to help rebuild the entire village.  He explained that several dozen - maybe more - children, tourists and villagers were drowned, or crushed, or just swept to their deaths by the wall of water that swamped the tiny villages dotted along the southeast coast of Samoa.

Sone told us that he lost 17 family members and explained that in an island community everyone is very interconnected- so the loss is deeply felt .

"My family has lost everything," Sone told us- we have no houses –  no schools – everything has been swept away. Lalmanu was one of the worst affected  areas.
As a part of Samoa National Disaster Management Sone has been able to access a couple of free containers that will leave from Auckland in the coming weeks.  The Kath Dickson Family Centre is contributing to the rebuilding of this community .