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[One-Minute World News] from [BBC NEWS]

[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 05:05 GMT, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 06:05 UK
Deadly tsunami in Pacific islands
A tsunami triggered by a strong quake in the South Pacific has killed at least 65 people in Samoa and more than 20 in American Samoa, say reports.

The Samoan authorities say at least another 145 people have been injured and whole villages destroyed.

American Samoa's delegate to the US Congress said thousands of people had been left homeless in the territory.

An 8.3-magnitude quake struck at 1748 GMT, generating 15ft (4.5m) waves in some areas of the islands.

The Samoa islands comprise two separate entities - the nation of Samoa and American Samoa, a US territory - with a total population of about 250,000 people.

A tsunami warning was initially issued for the wider region but cancelled a few hours later.

The general manager of Samoa's National Health Service told the BBC that 65 people had died and 145 people were injured.

President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster in American Samoa, enabling federal funding to made available to help victims.

Floating cars

"Some of the areas there are only a few feet above sea level, so you can imagine the devastation," said Eni Faleomavaega, who represents American Samoa in the US.

"It caused severe damage to property, there are cars floating everywhere."

Mr Faleomavaega told the BBC the waves had "literally wiped out all the low-lying areas in the Samoan islands," causing 11 deaths and injuring "several hundred".

He said the tsunami had hit within minutes of the quake, leaving people with no time to escape.

"There would have been no warning system capable of giving adequate warning to the people," he said.

Dr Lemalu Fiu, at a hospital in the Samoan capital, Apia, said the number of casualties was expected to rise as people arrived from coastal areas.

Talutala Mauala, Secretary General of the Red Cross in Samoa, said she was travelling to the country's south coast, where many injuries were reported.

"We won't know the full extent of the damage until we get there and see for ourselves," she said.

Ms Mauala said it could take many months for people to rebuild their homes.

An Associated Press reporter said he had seen "bodies everywhere" in the main hospital in Lalomanu, on Samoa's main island of Upolu, including at least one child.

Several foreign tourists are thought to be among the dead.

Beaches gone

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) said the quake struck at a depth of 33km (20 miles) some 190km (120 miles) from Apia. Waves of 5.1ft (1.57m) hit Apia and Pago Pago in American Samoa.

{{The water was swirling like a spa pool outwards [towards] the rim of the lagoon and in a few seconds the water sunk}
Ula Osasa-Mano
Eyewitness}}

Radio New Zealand quoted Samoan residents as saying that villages were inundated and homes and cars swept away.

Graeme Ansell, a New Zealander near Apia, told the radio station the beach village of Sau Sau Beach Fale had been "wiped out".

"There's not a building standing. We've all clambered up hills, and one of our party has a broken leg. There will be people in a great lot of need around here," he said.

Samoalive News said local radio stations had been receiving reports of high sea swells hitting coastal areas on the eastern and southern side of Upolu island.

"School has been called off for the day with tsunami warnings calling for people to head to higher grounds," the website said.

Witnesses have reported scenes of destruction.

"It's horrible... The village is gone and my once beautiful beach front villa has now been submerged in water," Josh Nayangu told the BBC after fleeing the area on a small fishing boat with his wife and son.
Ula Osasa-Mano, who was visiting family on the island, told the BBC the water along the Apia seawall was turbulent.

"The water was kind of swirling like a spa pool outwards [towards] the rim of the lagoon and in a few seconds the water sunk," Ula Osasa-Mano said.

The PTWC - a branch of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - issued a general alert for the South Pacific region, but it was cancelled by 2200 GMT.


[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 04:10 GMT, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 05:10 UK
Typhoon Ketsana blasts Cambodia
The powerful typhoon that has hit the Philippines and Vietnam with deadly force is now battering Cambodia.

At least nine people have died in Kampong Thom province in central Cambodia.

When Typhoon Ketsana hit Vietnam, more than 30 people were killed and almost 200,000 people fled their homes; severe flooding remains in central provinces.

In the Philippines, where the typhoon hit over the weekend, at least 246 people are known to have died.

Relief officials in the Philippines, struggling to feed and shelter hundreds of thousands of displaced people, admit they have been overwhelmed by the disaster.

They warn that new storms are heading towards the country.

Cambodia caught

In Vietnam, Ketsana hit with torrential rains and winds of more than 150km/h before it headed inland towards northern Cambodia and southern Laos.

Typhoons usually weaken on reaching land, but Ketsana is still dangerous, officials said.

"At least nine people were crushed last night when their house fell down," said Chea Cheat, chief of the Red Cross office in Kampong Thom province, about 130 km (80 miles) north of the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.

He added that at least 78 houses in his province were destroyed and that heavy rain and rising floods were continuing.

International organisations and government officials in Cambodia said they were distributing tents and food to affected people while assessing damage across at least five of the country's provinces.

Vietnam floods

The BBC's Guy De Launey in Phnom Penh said that Ketsana had been devastating when it headed toward the city of Danang, on central Vietnam's coast.

The airport and schools were closed. Railways and roads linking north and south Vietnam were cut off. Danang airport has since reopened.

The biggest floods in decades now threaten Vietnam's central provinces, correspondents said, with thousands of homes inundated with water.

Vietnamese state media reported that at least 33 people had died from floods and landslides in seven coastal and central highland provinces, and river waters in Quang Nam provinces could reach a level last seen in 1964.

Around 170,000 people were evacuated before the typhoon made landfall.

Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said late on Tuesday that he hoped power supplies would be restored quickly, particularly to Quang Ngai province where Vietnam's first oil refinery, Dung Quat, was due to reopen after an outage shut the plant's test runs last month.

Overwhelmed

In the Philippines, the government said it now believed 246 people had died after the storm struck on Saturday, a figure that is expected to rise as mud is cleared from the worst affected areas.

Almost two million people were affected by the flooding in Manila, the worst to hit the city in 40 years. At one point, 80% of the city was submerged.

Ketsana, with winds of up to 100km/h (60mph), hit the Philippines early on Saturday, crossing the main northern Luzon island before heading out toward the South China Sea. Officials say more than 40cm (16in) of rain fell on Manila within 12 hours, exceeding the average for the whole month of September.

Meanwhile forecasters said a new storm forming in the Pacific Ocean was likely to enter Philippine waters on Thursday and make landfall later on the northern island of Luzon.