WASHINGTON/WELLINGTON - At least 25 people died in the Pacific island states of Samoa and American Samoa after a tsunami was triggered by a magnitude 8.0 earthquake Tuesday, according to reports from the region.
A number of coastal villages were swept away and reports said the death toll was bound to rise as people who were evacuated to higher ground after the shake returned to lower levels.
Local radio stations in American Samoa reported 14 deaths and a Red Cross official in Apia, the capital of neighbouring Samoa, told Radio New Zealand there had been at least 11 deaths in that state.
The US Geological Survey put the magnitude of the quake, which was located about 204 km southwest of Samoa, at 8.0 on the Richter scale after earlier estimating it at 8.3.
As aftershocks continued to hit the two Samoa states, seismologists reported two further quakes measuring 5.6 and a third of 5.8 in the South Pacific.
Reports said villages on the south coast of Samoa’s main island Upolu had been extensively damaged by the tsunami, which sent waves up to 800 metres inland. About five hours after the first quake, the Red Cross spokeswoman told Radio New Zealand the tsunami warning had been lifted and people were beginning to return to the sites of their homes to inspect the damage.
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