austraLasia #2512

Tsunami hits South Pacific islands - Salesians report on situation
 
APIA: 30th September 2009 --  Fr Petelo Vito Pau, the Rector of the Salesian community centre located near Apia, the capital of Samoa, reports that "all confreres are safe from the earthquake" and the tsunami that struck on 29th September, causing widespread damage and loss of life to both Samoa and nearby American Samoa.  Fr Sefo Mulipola, a Salesian from the tiny island of Manono, in the Samoan group, reports that his family home was partly destroyed, but that the family are safe.  It seems that the two Salesians on Savai'i island are also safe.
    An earthquake of 8.3 magnitude, located some 190 kms to the south of the islands, caused several tsunami waves varying from .7 to 1.5 metres to strike the southern coastal areas of Upolu, the main Samoan island.  Two of the Salesian centres are located on coastal strips, both fully susceptible to any rise in water level.  We await further information on the effects of the tsunami on physical plant in these two areas, but it would seem that the brunt of the tsunami struck elsewhere.
    Both the Salesians and the Salesian Sisters have communities and presences in Samoa (formerly known as Western Samoa, and consisting of two main islands, Upolu and Savai'i and several smaller islands, amongst which Manono), while the Sisters have a community also in nearby American Samoa.  At the moment we have no report on how they fared.  More general media reports indicate that Pago Pago, the capital of American Samoa, was struck without warning.  News reports often confuse the issue by talking of 'Samoa' when they could mean either Samoa or American Samoa, but it would seem that loss of life is possibly as high as a hundred, even more, including both island groups.
    There are hundreds, if not thousands of islands in the wider region.  Two other large island groups, Tonga and Fiji, received tsunami warnings, and the reports are that an even more severe wave struck the northern islands of Tonga, which are very close to Samoa, with loss of life involved.  We have Salesians from Tonga, but not in Tonga, and their families do not come from that part of the island group.  We also have a Salesian community in Fiji ,and the Regional Seminary which our men attend (and teach at) is located on a susceptible strip of coast. On this occasion, although students were evacuated from that area, no significant difficulties were reported.  New Zealand also put out a tsunami warning, but later cancelled it.  There have been no significant difficulties despite higher than usual water levels on northern coasts.

  _________________
 AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific.  It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome.  For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . Use Bosconet-wiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2009 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there.  Or be interactive with the EAO Blog Cetera Tolle. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org.

Title: australasia 2512
Subject and key words: EAO Provinces AUL Tsunami
Date (year): 2009
ID: 2000-2099|2512