Tsunami in the Pacific: Relief on the Way, Latest News

Disaster officials rushed food, medicine and a temporary morgue to the Samoas on Wednesday after a powerful earthquake unleashed a tsunami that flattened villages and swept cars and people out to sea. At least 99 people were killed.

Akapo Akapo, senior meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Pago Pago, American Samoa, was online from Wednesday, Sept. 30, at 2 p.m. ET to discuss the disaster, its aftermath, how survivors are coping and what the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other organizations are doing to help.

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Washington, D.C.: How much warning did you have before the tsunami hit? And can you explain exactly what a tsunami is?

Akapo Akapo: Our warning got out in about 5 minutes before the wave was seen and arrived.

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washingtonpost.com: What is the situation there on the ground in Pago Pago, American Samoa?

Akapo Akapo: The search and rescue phase continues. the American Samoa government (ASG) have established 10 temporary shelters sheltering about 1000 people. More people are expected to come to the shelters today. Many people have been reported to refuse to come down from the mountains because of fear that there maybe another wave coming. CNN were rerunning some of their programs of which some of he people saw and though were new warnings.

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Montauk, N.Y.: Have supplies started arriving?

Akapo Akapo: The first plane just arrived from Honolulu, I could hear it landing.

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Fairfax, Va.: Was there more than one tsunami?

Laura Kong: The tsunami arrived as a series of waves. The sea level station in Pago Pago recorded many waves over the course of hours. The highest was recorded at about 4 meters peak to trough at 1813 Zulu time, about 25 min after the earthquake occurred.

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Washington, D.C.: Where, physically, were you when it hit yesterday? Can you describe what it was like? The sound, the force? Or were you far enough away from it not to experience the effects?

Akapo Akapo: I was at home. It was the strongest earthquake I ever felt. I have a solid concrete built house, but I heard a lot of shattering and cranking noises. It was so strong and very long, it must have continuously for more than two minutes.

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Washington, D.C.: Do you have radio and TV?

Akapo Akapo: YES TO BOTH QUESTIONS.

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Annapolis, Md.: How easy or difficult is it to forecast a tsunami?

Laura Kong: Currently, we have good capabilities of estimating at what time it will hit, but not how high it might be.

It is not easy to forecast, or predict, how high tsunami waves will be, nor how far inland they will flood. This is because the physics of wave science is dependent on many different factors. The factors include precise information of where the earthquake is and how large it is (which we don't know immediately), and how the resulting waves approach the shores of different coasts. For instance, waves will refract, or bend, depending on the coastline shapes, and also get higher depending on how the sea bottom shoals or deepens.

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College Park, Md.: We're hearing that the overall water level rising. Is that true?

Laura Kong: Overall, over decades and centuries, sea level is rising due to Climate Change. There is no link between climate change and the frequency of great earthquakes or destructive tsunamis.

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Washington, D.C.: How are communications? The phones seem to be out. How are people getting through? But you're doing this chat live on the Internet.

Akapo Akapo: AT THE TIME OF THE TSUNAMI, THE PHONE LINES WERE JAMMED UP AT TIMES. IT WAS VERY DIFFICULT TO GO ON LONG DISTANCE CONNECTIOIN. WE HAD HAND HELD RADIOS WHICH ALLOW US TO TALK TO HOMELAND SECURITY AND FOCAL POINT PEOPLE OF THE EAS SYSTEM.

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Washington, D.C.: So did the whole thing take about two minutes? What condition is the area in right now? Have things calmed down?

Akapo Akapo: Are you referring to the lead time of the warnihg. No. the series of wave took more than two hours. However, this was a short term tsunami. We had been warning people through outreach and workshops and through radio and TV, that when they felt a very strong earthquake. There will be no time to prepare a warning, but please head up to higher grounds. We had conducted numerous exercises over radio and practice with the public to do this. As matter of fact Laura Kong and Chip McCreey were here twice this year conducting these training with our disaster people here in American Samoa and Independent Samoa as well.

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Washington, D.C.: How does this tsunami compare to 2004's Indian Ocean disaster?

Laura Kong: Yesterday's tsunami was a local or regional tsunami where the tsunami is destructive close to its source, e.g., American Samoa, Samoa, Tonga. The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami was a tele-tsunami, which was destructive not only near its source (e.g., Indonesia), but also caused casualties across the Indian Ocean in Africa. Yesterday's Samoa earthquake's size was M8.0, whereas the 2004 Sumatra Indonesia's earthquake size was M9.0.

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Manassas, Va.: You said the earthquake shook your concrete house for two minutes. I'm confused. I thought it was just water rushing in from the ocean and the earthquake was beneath the ocean floor, not above it on shore. Can you explain?

Akapo Akapo: THE EARTHQUAKE LASTED MORE THEN TWO MINUTES. THE FIRST TSUNAMI WAVE REACHED SAMOA ABOUT 17 MINUTES AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE WAS FIRST FELT. THE EPICENTER OF THE QUAKE WAS AT ABOUT 122 MILES SOUTHWEST OF SAMOA. THE WAVE ORIGINATED FROM THE EARTHQUAKE AND TOOK 17 MINUTES FOR THE WAVE TO GET HERE.

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Rosslyn, Va.: Would you say that this one was not as big as expected and that you are fortunate?

Laura Kong: The source zone of earthquakes in this area is the Tonga Trench, which is oriented roughly north-south. It is a very long trench, so it is capable of generating other great earthquakes. Additionally, we know the largest earthquake in recent history is the M9.5 earthquake in 1960 off southern Chile. This generated a destructive tele-tsunami that killed people in Hawaii and in Japan 22 hrs later. This tsunami also hit American Samoa with waves several meters high.

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Alexandria, Va.: Are the FEMA folks there yet? What do the people need there? What can people do?

Akapo Akapo: I BELIEVED FEMA PEOPLE WERE ON THE PLANE THAT JUST ARRIVED MINUTES AGO. LOT OF PEOPLE ARE WITHOUT HOMES. POWER IS OUT FOR MOST OF THE ISLAND. DRINKING WATER, FOOD, COTS (TEMPORARY SHELTERS)MOST FAMILIES LOST EVERY...THUS WILL NEED CLOTHING AND ALL NECCESITIES. CONTACT RED CROSS. MONEY WOULD ARRIVE FAST. CONTACT FEMA OR RED CROSS.

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Akapo Akapo: I conltanceted Homeland Security and Homeland Security contaced the media.

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washingtonpost.com: This concludes our discussion. Thanks for joining in.

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washingtonpost.com: From Akapo Akapo (added late): Things are moving smoothly now and with FEMA already on ground, I believe it will go smoothly. The government of Americn Samoa is already on its way with the cleanup and providing aid.

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