NU Online News Service, Sept. 30, 3:20 p.m. EDT
Tsunamis from an 8.0 magnitude earthquake striking the Samoan islands killed 100 people and did significant property and casualty damage to villages and resorts, a catastrophe modeling firm said.
Risk Management Solutions in Newark, Calif., said the quake did little harm and most damage was from tsunamis that followed. It did not provide an estimate of the damage, noting that it is still early in the evaluation process.
The impacted islands were Samoa, which has a population of 180,000 people; American Samoa, with a population of 65,000 people; and Tonga, with a population of 120,000 people, according to a summary of the catastrophe by Guy Carpenter reinsurance brokerage.
RMS said the earthquake itself resulted in light to no damage, but the tsunamis that followed destroyed homes and buildings.
Guy Carpenter said small tsunamis were reported as far away as New Zealand and Japan, but the severe damage was confined to Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga.
U.S. President Barack Obama has declared a "major disaster" in American Samoa and ordered federal aid for the area.
Guy Carpenter said officials in Samoa have reported whole villages wiped out, "while hundreds of people are reported to have been made homeless in American Samoa."
Additionally, Guy Carpenter reported eyewitnesses have said two of Samoa's most popular resorts–Sinalei Reef Resort and Coconuts Beach Resort–had been hit hard.
In Pago Pago, American Samoa, sea waters reportedly surged around 100 yards inland before receding, causing property damage and electricity outages, according to RMS.
Guy Carpenter noted that some areas of American Samoa are only a few feet above sea level, and the surge of water "caused severe damage to property and swept cars and people out to sea."
Seven people were killed in Tonga, Guy Carpenter said, citing officials' reports. The hospital on the island, and the airport runway, also suffered major damage, and homes and government buildings were destroyed.
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