Geology Natural Disaster

Samoan Tsunami Survivor

Kevin Zelnio October 5, 2009

Neil Lumsden was out surfing when out of nowhere the recent earthquake struck the deep sea off of Samoa.

We had no warning, being out in the water outside of the reef pass we didn’t feel the earthquake happen, and everyone was caught completely off guard. All of a sudden, while sitting at the usual takeoff spot on the reef, I looked behind me to see the reef going dry all of the way to the shore until the shelf was sticking up about 15 feet out of the water. The normal channel turned into a puddle and my boat was nearly dry-docked sitting in a tiny pool of water. I knew instantly what the situation was, that this was extremely serious, and I began paddling as fast as I possibly could to get to the boat and the groms.

Transworld Surf has the rest of this amazing story. Hat tip to ole Peter E and the Surf Rider Foundation.

Animation of the shock wave sent out from the earthquake, courtesy of NOAA:

Tour of the Damage:

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2 Replies to “Samoan Tsunami Survivor”

  2. From The Age:

    “The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued a warning for South Pacific countries including Fiji, New Zealand and Tonga after the earthquake. There was no threat to Australia.

    Japan’s meteorological agency issued a tsunami alert, warning waves of up to 50 centimetres. The first waves were predicted to hit the Ogasawara island chain, 1000 kilometres south of Tokyo, at around 11am (12pm AEST).

    NZ authorities warned at 10.30am (AEST) coastal areas could still be hit by a wave of up to one metre.

    Tonga was hit by four-metre waves but no casualties were reported, NZPA said.”

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