Nov 04 2009
Wednesday, October 28
Wednesday began with a trip to the east end of the island. We planned a stop at Auasi, where there is a terminal for a small ferry between the main island of Tutuila and the island of Aunu’u, and Tula, a village near the eastern tip of the main island.
The stone breakwaters protecting the ferry harbor appeared to be in good condition with no apparent damage. Tsunami inundation and runup at the site appeared to be modest, reaching no more than a few feet above the protective structures and the ground elevation. However, there was some flood damage to houses built at or near grade landward of the harbor site.
Tula, which is located at the eastern end of the island, was damaged extensively. The community had no revetment or seawall, but the post-tsunami beach was still about 45-feet-wide and there was a beach berm measuring up to about 13 to 14 feet MSL. Also, we found that a lot of coral pieces had been washed inland, through peoples’ homes and across the road.
The visit to Tula revealed higher inundation levels and much more damage to buildings. Many homes were destroyed or heavily damaged, and residents were living in tents provided by the Red Cross or staying with relatives in homes on the hillsides. The elementary school and 15 to 20 homes or fales were seaward of the main road. All the homes seaward of the road were damaged extensively and many were completed destroyed from waves washing through the homes. Most of the homes along the coast are one-story, have concrete slab on grade foundations and are constructed with reinforced masonry walls (some have concrete columns with masonry infill walls), wood roof systems and metal roofing. The 
tsunami water level appeared to have come close to the eaves of many of the homes. The homes north of the school were on slightly higher ground than those to the south, and the damages seemed related to elevation, with some buffering by the beach and berm. We were told that many people were afraid to sleep in their tents or damaged houses at night for fear of another tsunami.
The school had extensive inundation damage, though it was being cleaned and painted while we were there—it was scheduled to reopen on November 2. The concrete and reinforced masonry school was better built than most of the houses in the area. This was a common observation by the team: government buildings, schools and churches, while damaged, tended to survive the tsunami, while many adjacent homes were destroyed.
While in Tula, we met a village “Matia” (chief) who worked as a counselor at the school. His house was next to the school and was completely destroyed. Fortunately, he and his family escaped before the waves struck. He helped to evacuate the school children up a nearby road on the hillside. A school administrator said the children had been taught to go up that hill after an earthquake, in the event that a tsunami was triggered by the quake. We found it very encouraging to learn that many people knew to evacuate once the earthquake stopped, even without an official warning. Because they evacuated, all the school children were unharmed.
We agreed that the damage to the Tula was major, though not as catastrophic as the damage to Paloa, which we visited on Tuesday afternoon. However, it was among the harder hit areas we saw.
Following the visit to Tula, we went to the very top of the evacuation hill where a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) observatory is perched high above the village, affording us a good view. The observatory is one of the stations used by NOAA to monitor baseline solar radiation and atmospheric gasses—part of its climate change monitoring program. That location was selected for the observatory because the area is believed to have the cleanest air on the planet, and universities and laboratories around the world use samples from this observatory for their research. It was almost surreal to think of the contrast between the island’s recent devastation and its place on the front lines of possible future global change.
The team then traveled to Pago Pago and met the local University of Hawaii Sea Grant agent. Right now, American Samoa is a microcosm of all the marine research groups, and, post-tsunami, it seems that everyone who can help is doing so. The Sea Grant agent had a mini-van and offered to take us to Fagasa on the north side of the Island. Fagasa Bay was also hard hit by the tsunami, even though the earthquake that generated the waves occurred south of American Samoa.
Again, we visited a school and spoke with an administrator, and again, we were told that all the children had been evacuated safely up a steep hillside road near the school. Many homes in the village were destroyed or heavily damaged. The older, one-story school buildings close to the shoreline were damaged (some heavily) and undergoing repairs, but the newer two-story classroom building was already back in use when we visited (the first floor had sustained some flood damage, but it had already been cleaned up and repaired).
At the end of the day, we returned to Pago Pago, where we viewed damage along the northwest side of the harbor, one of the hardest hit areas. The tsunami wave elevation increased here due to the narrowing and shoaling at the head of the harbor. The velocity of the wave here was also very high—this video was shot from Pago Plaza. The video shows that the initial wave traveled across the parking lot in about ten seconds, quickly reaching several feet in depth and propelling cars into nearby buildings.
– ASCE/COPRI tsunami assessment team
Lesley Ewing, P.E., Team Leader, Coastal Engineer, California Coastal Commission
Jennifer L. Irish, Ph.D., P.E.; Assistant Professor, Texas A&M University
Christopher P. Jones, P.E.; Senior Engineer, Christopher P. Jones & Associates
It was evident as soon as we descended into the small village of Paloa that the tsunami had inflicted catastrophic damage there. We do not use that term casually or often. There were only a couple of homes standing, at least a dozen had been totally destroyed, and both churches had been damaged. The school, which was reported to have been rebuilt a few years previously following damage from a tropical cyclone, had sustained heavy damage. Its concrete columns and beams, and the upper part of the roof, were intact, but the walls were gone and the interior had been swept clean by the waves. More than 14 feet above the floor slab we saw school books that had been caught in a broken rafter.
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