Terrible damage and the sad loss of 77 lives in Samoa in the last 24hrs:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8281616.stm
I also heard on the radio that an earthquake has occured in Sumatra, but am unable to get any details on this yet..
Thoughts going out to those affected.
It’s a terrible loss. We heard about it in the Honolulu airport last night. Caused quite a buzz as you can imagine.
Prayers go out to the families affected.
Yes , I’m at home sick and watching it all on the news.
The Sumatra earthquake wasn’t just a bump in the night , either.Serious devastation - many collapsed buildings , fires and possibly thousands trapped , they think. Apparently it’s possible it was triggered by the Samoan quake.
We live in perilous times.
The south coast of Samoa took the brunt of the tsunami , so I imagine the surf resorts are probably toast.There’ve been a couple of surfers shown on the news.Lots of survivors left with nothing but the clothes they had on , if that.I can only imagine the terror.
Perhaps we should all think about giving money or goods to an appropriate charity.
Just as an aside - we had a tsunami alert here , and it’s coming out now that some people were taking their kids to the beach to watch it !?Go figure. Fortunately it wasn’t as big as expected , if it arrived at all.
One of us (that I know of) is in Bali. Wouter and his girlfriend just arrived. I'm hoping he'll check in here when he can. I've got em out to him but circumstances are probably tough over there right now. Let's all wish for the best for everyone affected.
This is serious.
prayers for sure...
i was just in the verizon store and talking to a guy in there who just got back from Iraq (National Guard)
and was leaving Fri. to go to Samoa to help his family...
a good friend of mine’s son (john long) has lived there (samoa) for years…john was the samoan national champ three or four years ago…worked at salani surf resort for a while, then went out on his own. married a local girl, had two lovely daughters…
the older daughter was trapped in a car and drowned as the tsnuami engulfed the vehicle…the younger daughter in the hospital with severe head trauma and the prognosis is grim.
say a prayer for tim chew and his wife sarah, they’re on their way to samoa to bury a grandchild and comfort their son…i’m f#$*in crying as i write this…
jim dunlop
Heartbreaking... How do you put that kind of loss into words....
Trying to hope for ''over-reporting'' now (wrt the whole event(s)). Godspeed to all concerned.
I was in Samoa a few years back so I know it quite well, its devastating news that it has been so badly affected.
John Dunlop, I stayed in Llalomanu for a few weeks (south coast) and while I was there I was guided around by john long to all the various surf breaks, I couldnt have wished for a better guide and host, and will always remember the time there and the absolutely heart felt hospitality.I remember well his two children, the youngest one being a baby at the time,so its a real shock to hear about what has happened and I really didnt expect to read about it on here…
All my thoughts are with their family in this time of tragedy.
Terrible news it sounds like a high percentage of fatalities may have been kids, I can only imagine the pain of those families. We are flying into Apia on Sunday for a trip that has been booked for months. We thought long and hard about whether we should go but in the end we thought as long as we are not in the way, going and spending our tourist dollars will be the best help we can give.
Probably won’t be the surf trip that was planned but I’m throwing the fish in and might score a few on some of the less well known parts of the coasts which have been unaffected by the tsunami. I hope the Samoan people don’t suffer the double wammy of the tragedy and then the loss of the tourist income like what happened to Bali after the bombings.
Cheers
Mooneemick
Just got em from wouter, he's good.
inadvertent double post
The stories of people surviving are pretty amazing
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-pacific/2923467/Wellington-surfer-rode-out-giant-tsunami-waves