A Tsunami struck Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga on Thursday morning after a major earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale, 18km deep, 190km from Samoa and Tongan islands, close enough that warning systems had but 6 minutes to alert people sleeping in beach hut Fali to run for the hills. Many survived by sheer dint of how fast they could escape the beach. 170 people were lost to the sea.

Civil Defense in New Zealand has been criticized for their slow reaction not advising people quickly or loudly enough perhaps that disaster was on its way, even though in the final analysis, they were right to err on the side of calm. Northern beaches were given a strong swell and a boats may have suffered damage, but the consequences in New Zealand were extremely mild and the focus on it soon faded as the realisation crept into that day that whole villages in Samoa (Auckland is the largest city for Samoan residence) had been wiped out. A news report of a mother losing all three of her children right before her eyes to the tides fury became the headlines. By evening the sense of unreality was still dreadful. A feeling of incredible sadness infuses this side of the world for the loss of life from paradise.

On the other side of the same fault line, 10,000 kms distant, earthquake ravaged Sumatra faced a far more deadly series of shocks. Maybe 1100 have died, being buried by collapsing buildings, only to suffer another huge earthquake.

The official death toll stands at 715, although one U.N. estimate said more than 1,100 may have perished. Officials said that thousands were still not yet accounted for.

Speculation that these events were related were dismissed as unlikely.