A yacht was tossed over 200 yards from its mooring
into the Latter-day Saint chapel in Pago Pago, American Samoa.
The chapel has extensive damage inside from the September 29
earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck the U.S. territory.

The aftermath images of the massive destruction and over 170 dead in the wake of an 8.3 magnitude earthquake and subsequent galu lolo [tsunami or tidal wave] that struck Samoa and the northern-most islands of Tonga about 7 a.m. on September 29 are heart-wrenching:

Stunned survivors searching the debris for bodies and possessions, demolished houses, cars carried out to sea, villages reduced to rubble, large boats tossed on shore, trucks wedged into trees and the second floor of buildings and families led to convene hasty funerals as emergency services were initially overwhelmed by the disaster.

Then there are the televised interviews of those who lost loved ones to the waves, some still missing…or who miraculously — and literally — escaped the grip of the undertow to survive. Some of these bear physical abrasions and lacerations, but one has to wonder how long the emotional and psychological scars will persist.

Interestingly, Samoans and others living in Koolauloa often got first word, pictures and video clips of the damage done over the Internet, through networks such as Facebook™. Barry Markowitz, a professional photographer/videographer and former Laie and Hauula resident who now lives in Hawaii Kai, took many of these earliest images within one day of the natural disasters on assignment for CNN, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and Samoa News. He previously covered Super Cyclone Olaf in 2005 and other events in Samoa.

Exclusive first-hand report

In an exclusive interview with Kaleo, Markowitz — a 10-year resident of Samoa and a dual citizen of that country and the U.S. who lost in-laws in the disaster ­— told how he quickly made arrangements within hours of the earthquake to join a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) team, as well as American Samoa Governor Togiola Tulafono, on board a U.S. Coast Guard C130 transport plane for a nine-hour flight to the U.S. territory.

[Editor's NOTE]: Markowitz did not comment on the extensive damage in neighboring Samoa, where over 100 people lost their lives in places such as Siumu, Lalomanu, and Aleipata.

After first flying over the Manu'a islands, "which appeared that things seemed to be okay," Markowitz said they landed on Tutuila about 9 a.m. on September 30, and he joined a Samoa News crew — that included Teri Hunkin, the widow of former Laie resident, the late Tau Hunkin — for help with ground transportation. "We were the first journalists into Leone and Asili, a small village to the west, after the temporary landfill bridge was built. However, bad they thought it was initially, it became worse and worse."

"Having been to Leone many times, it was hard to describe: It was as if you put a village in front of Waimea Bay with 60-foot waves. It was like a bomb hit. The power of the waves is so hard to describe. For years government officials in Hawaii and others have always warned us, particularly where we live in Hauula and Laie, to get to higher ground when a galu lolo is coming."

Markowitz explained that while some people apparently had about a 15-minute warning of the impending wave, "not everybody took that seriously," and others were unaware. "I tell you, I will never purchase beach-front property anywhere. These were villages that never had a tidal wave. There was no history of one, and yet we in Koolauloa know that Kahana Bay had a problem years ago."

"In Asili there were several dead and several missing," he said. "I interviewed one man and his wife who had absolutely nothing left. There was a concrete pad and crumpled roofing tins. He'd had a music business, like a DJ, and a car that were all gone. Luckily, they got up to their plantation in the back."

He also interviewed a 16-year-old Leone High School girl there "who told how her mother and sister were caught in the tidal wave as they were trying to get to higher ground in their car. They haven't seen the car again; they heard rumors it was in another village."

Tsunami damage in Leone, American Samoa

In Leone Markowitz said he was saddened to learn of several "old ladies who used to weave baskets and mats there as part of an old-age program. They would wave to everybody, and they were like a fixture…but now they're gone."

"The waves tore away the baby from the arms of one woman. The baby's gone, and she was having a lot of trouble with that. Another man, an uncle, grabbed his little nephew and threw him into a pusa aisa, an ice box, and the boy floated out to sea…and then floated back into shore."

He also told of conducting an interview on the spot of a tragedy in Leone with Ed Seiuli, who works with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Seiuli has helped a number of football players from there get scholarships, and recently returned from an assignment in Afghanistan:

"He heard screams from his daughter in the car, as his wife and two daughters were preparing to leave for school. He started running outside, because she screamed, 'Daddy, the water, the water. Galu lolo. Galu lolo'…and as he ran to the car, he was blown through an entire house from the front to the back. The car was smashed into the house. The roof of the house collapsed onto the car…and as he came back, he ripped open the doors and pulled out his wife and one daughter. The other one kicked out the back window and got out. They're in the hospital, and they have nothing left in their house." [NOTE: One of the daughters died Thursday evening at the Lyndon B. Johnson Tropical Medical Center in American Samoa.]

Seiuli, whose currently at Tripler Medical Center in Honolulu with his wife, told Markowitz that "he had ultimate faith in God, and he would never waver in that regard." He added that "he was in so much shock that he couldn't cry yet…but my tears came. I was sobbing when I walked away from him."

In recording and relating such incidents, Markowitz pointed out he had a feeling that "he was trying to help, because people in the rest of the world do not know how bad it is."

In Pago Pago, Markowitz continued, "huge ships were picked up and carried a half-mile inland, through the Mormon church, and on top of buildings, and embedded 30 feet up in the Pago Pago community center. There were containers thrown through houses. It was like a Hollywood movie that was made with computer effects: It could never really happen, but it happened."

"One man told me everybody in town watched the water in the harbor recede about a half-mile, and knew what was coming. One yachtie [boat owner] saw what was happening, and was trying to get his yacht out when the wave hit. He screamed to his wife to throw him a line, and the next time she saw him was in the morgue."

He added he had originally intended to go to the east end of Tutuila island on Thursday, "but there was so much damage downtown [in Pago Pago and Satala], that I spent five hours covering the news there," before beginning to transmit his images that afternoon.

Markowitz also noted that the American Samoa 50-man fautasi [racing canoe] Aeto was split in half, the two halves separated by a quarter-mile; two Korean girls apparently drowned in a car washed into the flood control canal near Pago Plaza; the actions of a security guard opening the doors of Fagatogo Square probably spared that building from more damage than it sustained; and headstones in the Satala cemetery on the other side of the harbor were knocked around. "That's about 15 feet above sea level," he said.

Young men load a piece of the Aeto racing canoe, which
came to rest a quarter-mile from the other half, into a truck.

"Also that afternoon, about 1:30, there was another earthquake about 200 miles south, about a 6.1 aftershock, and a lot of people were panicking. Even though there was no tsunami warning, a lot of people gathered their kids and went to high ground."

In reference to the initial earthquake which set off the tsunami, Markowitz said a colleague who was in Fagatogo Square when it hit told him "the building was up in the air, flipping like pancakes, and kept shuddering for about three minutes. It was very scary."

Three days after arriving, Markowitz and several other media people boarded the Coast Guard C130 flight back to Honolulu.

Though he normally provides coverage on the reactions of others, when Kaleo asked to share his own thoughts on all the destruction Markowitz saw in American Samoa, he responded: "This was far and away, vastly more impacting and more scary than any of the other cyclones I've experienced. A tidal wave is the worst. People who lost their houses and their loved ones, they all said a tidal wave is the worst thing that God ever unleashed upon the people of American Samoa."

"Having lived through an afä [hurricane] and covered cyclones in Samoa, it's hard to be a detached journalist. I cannot separate my feelings from being a former resident. Now I [and other media] have left, but I would hope that the media won't forget about Samoa, that they go back from time to time to check the status…to find out what the special needs for children are, and the special needs for people who had babies ripped from their hands."

"There are so many social needs that will continue, yet there will not be as much [media] attention as there has been for the past week. I fear they'll be forgotten and left to themselves with all that destruction."

"It will take years of rebuilding and repair," Markowitz said.

Other second-hand reports

Others shared second-hand reports of tragedy and damage. For example:

• Simi Niumatalolo, a retired Coast Guardsman and former Polynesian Cultural Center chef who serves as Latter-day Saint bishop of the Laie Ninth [Samoan] Ward said that one member of his family was drowned in Pago Pago "after she had gone to work early in the morning, and my sister and nephew's homes in Aua [on Tutuila] were all damaged." He added that the families of several of his ward members were also involved in the disaster, such as Ila Talapa, whose 107-year-old mother died when she couldn't outrun the tsunami in the Aleipata region on the Samoa island of Upolu. "He also lost a niece."

"Our prayers are with the families of those who lost people, whoever they are and wherever they may be," Bishop Niumatalolo continued. He also said he and his ward members held a special spiritual "fast" on behalf of the bereaved and suffering.

Niumatalolo, who grew up in Aua until 1952, added he doesn't remember anything like this happening in American Samoa before.

• Delsa Moe, Director of Cultural Presentations at the Polynesian Cultural Center who is originally from Samoa, has been quoted in the major Honolulu media about the disaster, and her brother — and former Laie resident — Gyme Atoa has kept many people informed about the latest events through his Facebook™ network.

"On a personal note, I'm really saddened by the magnitude of the devastation. It wasn't until the first pictures from American Samoa started to roll in that we started to get an idea of how bad it was. And then when the photos started to come in from Upolu [the main island of western Samoa], it just broke my heart," she said. "I could see places I stood at as recently as last year were just wiped out. It actually looked like a garbage [landfill] site, and a bulldozer had been in there moving things around."

"Then when we got the news that my cousin Tui Annandale had passed away, we were all in denial, and then in shock. Finally, the effects became personal at that point. She was 63, and the co-owner of the Sinalei Resort in Siumu. Everything there on the beach is gone, and several of their beach villas have been destroyed. She was in a truck, trying to escape, when the galu caught up with them, and drew the truck into the ocean."

"I've also seen pictures of the Coconuts Resort next door, and I know that's just been ruined, really, really bad. They sustained even worse damage than Sinalei, because they're down on sea level."

Asked about Apia and the suburb of Pesega where the Latter-day Saint Temple, mission and school complex is located, Moe replied heard "Pesega was okay, that the wave got as far inland as Vaimoso [a nearby swampy area]; but the Angel Moroni's trumpet [on top of the temple] and part of his hand broke off in the earthquake. That's the same Angel Moroni statue that went through a fire a number of years ago."

Asked about other parts of Samoa, Moe said her information was sketchy but that she heard the small island of Manono, situated between Upolu and Savaii, "sustained a lot of damage, but nothing's confirmed about that, and somebody said Mulifanua [the ferry terminal between Upolu and Savaii] got it really bad."

Moe also reported that many people want to do something to help. For example, she noted that the people who rent her family's home in Lotopä, next to Pesega, "used our big yard for people to bring large items, and from there they distributed it to the outer villages. By that evening they had put together soup and sandwiches, and drove out to the Aleipata side [of the island, which suffered extensive damage], to feed the volunteers who were helping."

"The next day they did the same thing. They had a food and donation drive, and in eight hours they collected over 160,000 tälä [Samoan dollars], and tons and tons of food, clothing and bedding, and they've started delivering them out to the villages.

"Over here we're encouraging people to donate online. That's the best way to help in western Samoa. We know that 100 percent of the donation goes into the relief fund for both Samoas as well as the Philippines and Indonesia," Moe continued. "The [Latter-day Saint] Church is sending aid to American Samoa from the U.S., and for Samoa from the Australia and New Zealand side."

She added that some people have also flown to Samoa to donate their labor, "so when somebody asked me if I was going, I said the best thing that I can do is to save the $1,000 air fare and give money instead. For a thousand U.S. dollars, you can build a brand new home in Samoa for some äiga [family]. The stores in Apia [the capital of Samoa] have merchandise, the people just need money to purchase the items."

"The PCC is also helping by concentrating our efforts through the Samoan Club at BYU–Hawaii. The Filipino Club is doing something similar."

"It's actually comforting being in a community like Laie at times like this, where there are a lot of other Samoans and people with Samoan ties around," Moe continued. "If I were a minority, I would probably stay home and grieve, but we go to work and we actually talk about it. We ask, what's the update and what have you heard. We share stories, and it really helps ease the grief."

"I was on Facebook™ the other night, and a former employee of mine who lives in Colorado…said you guys are so lucky you live right there in Laie, where there are other Samoans to help you. He said, I'm alone here in Colorado and I just feel so isolated. There's no one for me to really talk to about this."

"He gets his comfort by going on Facebook™, and I thought, there really is strength in numbers in going through tragedy."

Asked if she was taught as a girl growing up in Samoa about the dangers of tsunamis, Moe replied, "No. It was always hurricanes and earthquakes. I really didn't know about the danger of tsunamis until I came here [Laie] to school… We had a lot of earthquakes, growing up in Samoa, but I never associated them with tsunamis. We were never taught, be careful if there's an earthquake: You might have to run for the hills."

• Rowena Reid — a Career Services counselor and Samoan language instructor at BYU–Hawaii, who is originally from Faleniu, American Samoa — has also been quoted in the local media about the disaster. She reported that her family was okay, and her husband, Ernie Reid's mother, who lives by the ocean in Vaitogi, was "surprisingly okay. But as I read and hear about the damage, I'm emotional about the people looking for their children."

She added she served as a Latter-day Saint missionary in the Samoa village of Vaovai on the southeastern end of Upolu island, which suffered extensive tsunami damage: "I've thought a lot about them. The whole village is ruined."

"This affects a lot of the Samoan students at BYU–Hawaii, and we took some time in our Samoan language class to just talk it through with them."

She also said such disasters leave her "with an appreciation for life. The thing that's good in Samoa is that people help each other. It doesn't matter if they're äiga [family] or not: All of a sudden, you're äiga with everybody. All of a sudden there's a spirit of helping one another. Things like this bring the community together."

• Steve Laulu, manager of the Polynesian Cultural Center's Samoan village and a Latter-day Saint bishop in Kaneohe, said "everyone in our PCC village is saddened by what's going on. There's a need and a want to do something, but it's very tough with regard to communications. For example, two of Kap Te'o-Tafiti's nieces were found dead. The story we heard was they had gone to work in Pago Pago when the tsunami hit."

Laulu said his own family in Savaii and American Samoa are alright, "but that doesn't make it any easier for the rest of the families and the people of Samoa in general. It's a hard thing to fathom that there are families suffering right now." He added he's also working with the student workers in the village, and "people are pulling together."

Laulu, who was raised in Samoa and is 54 years old, said he had never heard of an earthquake of such magnitude as the one which struck on September 29, "let alone a tsunami with waves of that size. But, I understand, even if people were trained, they had almost no time to react."

"For those of us here in Hawaii, our hearts, thoughts and prayers go out to all those people of Samoa who have been devastated. We pray for the families affected."

• An October 2 press release from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reported that two previously unaccounted for sister missionaries assigned to the small island of Niuatoputapu in northern Tonga are safe. An earlier Church report indicated the stake center in Fa'aala on the island of Savaii, was damaged.

• In a request passed along on October 2 to returned Latter-day Saint missionaries who served in Samoa, Church member Eti Pauga indicated "the main need now in [western] Samoa is food and clothing. The government has restored power and water. The Church was the first to donate food, clothing and tarps for temporary shelter. Some families are starting from scratch: [They have] no home, no money to start a new home, and Samoa does not have an insurance program or FEMA where people can afford to insure homes and rebuild them when damaged, so most are building huts to kick start."

Pauga also indicated other items needed include clothing for all ages, soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste, canned foods and MREs, pots and pans, tent tarps, blankets or sheets,  pillows, and money to ship such items.

What you and others can do to help

• The BYU–Hawaii Samoan Club Operation Relief Samoa 'Drive' will accept donations [pictured above] in the university's main parking lot on Saturday, October 10, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. For those supporters in Kaneohe who can't make it to Laie, drop off donations on Friday, October 9, from 4-6 p.m. at the Kaneohe Windward District Park.

• Bishop Niumatalolo reported that some of his Laie Ninth Ward members did fundraising on October 3.

• Latter-day Saints who wish to help are encouraged to donate to the Humanitarian Fund, 100 percent of which is passed along to those in need, including those in Indonesia and the Philippines who have also recently been impacted by natural disasters; or to donate online through LDS Philanthropies at http://www.ldsphilanthropies.org/humanitarian-services/

• Gus Hannemann, director of the American Samoa liaison office in Honolulu, encouraged those who want to help to make financial donations to a fund established by the Bank of Hawaii, which has branches in American Samoa, with an initial $25,000. He explained that actually shipping goods to Samoa is costly, and very difficult at this time.

• The BYU–Hawaii Samoan Club, with the assistance of the Polynesian Cultural Center, is doing a fund-raising concert on October 17. "The fundraising helps to ease the pain of some of the students, because they feel like their doing something," Reid said.

• There will also be a fundraising booth at the BYU–Hawaii Foodfest on October 17.

• Assistance drop-off centers have reportedly been set up until October 9 at the BYU–Hawaii McKay Foyer and TVA Main Office in Laie, and the Kahuku Village Association building in Kahuku.

For more information:

• The official Government of American Samoa web site:t http://americansamoa.gov/
• Samoa News online: http://www.samoanews.com/
• A [Western] Samoa online news site
• Former Laie resident Bethel Hunt, principal of the private Ah Mu Academy school near Apia, Samoa, has written a first-hand account the the Samoa tsunami at http://www.ldsmag.com/churchupdate/091009disaster.html in Meridian Magazine.

Editor's note: 1) Foley — who personally experienced the 1966 hurricane in Samoa that caused extensive damage, gave rise to a subsequent oge or famine of traditional food crops and the eventual replacement of many fale Samoa [traditional houses], as well as small earthquake tremblers — recalled he was taught soon after arriving in American Samoa in 1965 to immediately run inland if he ever saw the ocean suddenly receding back over the reef, "because a tidal wave was coming."

"I also recall going to a presentation about tsunamis at Kahuku Library a number of years ago where a UH geologist made it very clear that a large underwater earthquake anywhere near Hawaii, such as the one that just happened in Samoa, could generate a tsunami that could strike shorelines in the state within minutes," he said. "That's scary."

2) Markowitz' photos and video have already been widely published in other media, but many people probably do not realize he originated them.