A view of the southwest and airport areas from atop Mt. Olotele
The airport viewed from Mt Olotele
Lomi's truck tag
Civic Alert Bell, made from an old gas cylinder
Akapo's private hotel
Banana Trees in Vaitogi
The balcony at Akapo's
Welcome to the Golden Arches
The National Weather Service office support buildings at Tafuna. The building with the open garage door is where the weather ballons are launched at 12 Noon and at midnight, 7 days a week.
Back yard of the NWS office at Tafuna
NWS Control Center
The main road at Faleniu
Fala and graves at Mesepa
A church at Mesepa
Faleniu
Another view from Mt Olotele
The mountains of American Samoa
The View east from Mt Olotele
TV, Radio and Cell antennas atop Mt Olotele
A relay antenna for a Western Samoa FM station
The view north from Mt Olotele
Northeast view from Mt Olotele
Another north view from Mt Olotele
A flower atop Mt Olotele
The view west from Mt Olotele
A Fala atop the Aasu road
A church atop the Aasu road
The view from the Aasu road
The road to Malaeimi
Fast Food store in Tafuna
A large church in Vaitogi
A fancy Fala in Vaitogi
A typical house in beachside Vaitogi. If you look close, you can see the Christmas decorations.
The beach at Vaitogi
Rocky coast at Vaitogi
Rocky pool at Vaitogi
looking east from the beach at Vaitogi
Looking south from Vaitogi beach
Prints from local creatures, Vaitogi beach
A shrine to a casualty of the September tsunami
A beach Fala at Vaitogi
WWII machine gun bunker
A blowhole at Vaitogi
The view north from the Vaitogi beach
Lava rock at Vaitogi beach
Fala in Vaitogi
Welcome to Vaitogi, Home of the Turtle and the Shark (A local legend and story)
Beach Fala
Vaitogi beach store
Local laundry in Vaitogi
Vaitogi front yard
Suburban house in Vaitogi
Vaitogi Street
Tafuna High School Campus
NWS office data chart
Government uplink at Tafuna. Because this is 14 degrees south of the equator, the dish is pointing nearly straight up and slightly north.
On the road to Matuu
The rocks near Matuu
Radio towers across the harbor entrance
The outer harbor at Pago Pago
Long boat area at Pago Pago harbor
Long boat and storage building for other long boats
Local bus
Local bus stop
Pago Pago harbor Fala
Containers at the harbor
Local harbor shop
Raffle at the Development Bank building
The "Tsunami Survivor" bus
Living tree sculpture
Main Post Office, Pago Pago, AS
Display Fala, downtown Pago Pago
Development Bank of American Samoa. The original location was damaged by tsunami waves.
The hillside behind the Post Office, Pago Pago
Samoa News building
A fancy homestead in Malaeimi
A nice home near Malaeimi
Nuuuli Service station
Main power generating station
Just outside Leone
Tsunami damage, Leone Bay. The next series of photos show the worst of the tsunami affected villages on the west end of the island.
Tsunami damage, Post Office
Gas Station, Amaluia
This home was swept away by the tsunami
A damaged Fala. The waves were higher than the roof, and the pressure of the water crushed everything in its path. The container on the right is an emergency shelter.
A ruined truck and residence in Asili. The area to the left was a small stream before the tsunami hit.
The tents are where this house once stood. A memorial to a casualty lies before the slab.
All that remian of this house are the supports and the family graves.
The tsunami covered this church, ruined the inside, and now the pews are piled up outside.
The Nua valley. The tents are where houses once stood.
The houses appear fine from the outside, but were underwater for a time, and are now being restored.
The wave here at Agagulu swept over the top of these buildings.
The Alataua School.
Some of the teachers and students at the Alataua School. They quickly evacuated up into the hills above the school when the waves approached, and all were saved.
The old Failolo Store. The wave was over 20 ft high here.
The wave reached the upper floor of this house, and swept away the house in front
The houses survived the tsunami, but were underwater for a time
The buildings here were swept away
These houses were also swept away.
A church in Amanave
A different view of the devastation
Buildings and homes were covered with water, and some disappeared
A scoured stream bed
The waves were over the top of the roof here, and even swept away the second story of the building on the left
The waves covered these homes
Many homes were swept away here
Barely a trace left
The house was destroyed, but the rebuild will begin soon
This former two-story home sits 20 ft above the high tide line, but the wave was 30 ft high here, and left nothing but loose walls
A world war two machine gun nest
This used to be a Fala with a roof. The water was 30 ft high here.
The main school, which held about 200 students. The school offices were located on the blue and red slabs.
The wave reached the house on the hill, but the residents escaped up above
A former beach park, now just a beach with scrap metal roof material scattered and buried in the sand.
The students who were here had arrived at school the morning of the tsunami, and when the earthquake began, the students were led outside by the teachers and staff of the school. The earthquake lasted for almost two minutes. As soon as the earth stopped moving, everyone lined up and walked to the left and up the hill. Within ten minutes, the first waves arrived, smashing into the school buildings. Everyone, including the villagers who followed the line of children, was saved.
Cars were crushed and piled up by the water
This home was swept away, and the ground scoured of all vegetation
The water reached the church, but did not damage the outside
All swept away
The concrete slabs were all that survived
The 7.9 earthquake caused this roadbed to drop by about two feet.
Fagalii bus stop
A home in the foothills
An old rural Fala
Crossing the stream at Maloata
Christmas decorations in Fagamalo
Fagamalo Bay
Fagamalo Village. This small village on the north shore is only about 2 miles from the disaster area, and was unaffected, due to the direction of the waves, which came from the southwest. However, this village is very vulnerable from a tsunami approaching from the north.
Looking north from the road out of Fagamalo
The Maloata Valley, north shore
A small Fala next to the road
Looking down at the Village of Amanave, which was heavily damaged by the tsunami waves
Amanave Bay
Se`etaga Bus Stop
Asili Bay, damaged by the tsunami waves
The beach at Asili, now transformed and scrubbed of sand
Amaluia
Amaluia. Some of the trees were scrubbed of their leaves by the waves.
Where a house once stood, Amaluia
The waves covered this beach home and swept the contents out to sea
On the road in Leone, just outside the tsunami zone
A home in Malaeloa
Sunset at the National Weather Serrvice office in Tafuna
