Samoan tourist resorts 'devastated' by tsunami

This photo taken on Tuesday after an 8.0-magnitude quake struck in the early morning offshore shows people inspecting the damage in Pago Pago in American Samoa. The huge earthquake churned up a giant tsunami that devastated the Samoa islands, killing at least 113 people as it tore through resorts and villages. Photo: AFP

Samoan tourist resorts had been "devastated" by a violent quake and tsunami which hit the tiny Pacific island nation Tuesday, the deputy prime minister said as holidaymakers recounted horrifying scenes.
Misa Telefoni said the powerful waves which killed at least 47 people in the country had smashed into upmarket island resorts off the coast of the main island of Upolu after the 8.0-magnitude quake.
"We've heard that most of the resorts are totally devastated on that side of the island," he told Australian Associated Press.
"We've had a pretty grim picture painted of all that coast."
Telefoni said that his cousin Joe Annandale, who owns the upmarket Sinalei Reef Resort, was in a critical condition in hospital and that his cousin's wife had drowned.
As officials confirmed that two South Koreans and an Australian were among the dead, holidaymakers said that some areas had been completely flattened.
"There will be people in a great lot of need round here," New Zealand tourist Graeme Ansell told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from Upolu.
"It's flattened, it's just flattened. It was very quick and it's flattened."
Wendy Booth, who owns the Sea Breeze resort, said she and her husband clung to a handrail to stop being sucked out to sea.
"The second wave hit and came up through the floor, pushed out the back door and threw us outside," she told commercial radio.
"We managed to hang on to a handrail. My husband and I just hung on to each other and the handrail and then that one (wave) went but the suckout was tremendous.
"The force of the wave took furniture through the roof. The furniture was pushed with the ferocity of the wave through the ceiling."
Another witness, Tony Manson, said the resort had been destroyed.
"The lagoon is awash with debris," he said. "I don't know how many are dead, I know people are down there retrieving bodies at the moment."
New Zealand said one of its nationals was feared dead and that more tourists could have died because the waves hit during a busy school holiday period.
"We have one reliable but as yet unconfirmed report of a New Zealand death," acting Prime Minister Bill English said.
"We are of course concerned that there may be more given that the tsunami struck an area in Samoa where there are several resorts, and it's during the school holidays when a number of our Samoan-New Zealand families go back to Samoa."
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith confirmed areas where there were major tourist facilities appeared worst hit by the surge of water.
"In Samoa it's really especially the southeast of the island that's been hit and that's unfortunately where a lot of both the luxury resorts and the budget resorts are, and of course we're concerned there may be Australians holidaying there," he said.
Tourism is a major industry for Samoa, which boasts a year-round warm climate, pristine beaches and lush tropical rainforests.