tsunami

this was our report today re. the tsunami in samoa ---- no nps employees killed but the hdqtrs., visitor center, and curatorial collection were all wiped out ----

Wanted to give a little more of an update on the situation at National Park
of American Samoa. As you know, yesterday an 8.0 earthquake was followed
by a significant tsunami event that destroyed the NPS visitor center and
offices at NPSA. Late yesterday, all park employees and volunteers were
accounted for and were safe and sound. At least one employee's house and
four employees' vehicles were destroyed by the tsunami. Fortunately, this
event happened early enough in the day that most employees were not yet at
work and were in areas of high ground that were unaffected by the wave
impacts. The few employees that were at the office were able to run out of
the office building to the safety of high ground, although most of them had
to run through water to get there.

The park visitor center and all contents, including the park's curatorial
collections, were destroyed. The entire park fleet of vehicles was
destroyed with the exception of two vehicles. The extent of damage to park
marine resources will not be known for some time. Undoubtedly there will
be some impacts to coral reefs and there will be significant amounts of
debris in the water and along beaches. Most of the park terrestrial
resources appear to be fine.

The park staff initially helped with rescue and recovery operations on site
and are engaged in assessing and providing for the well-being of NPS
employees and volunteers. Additionally, they have been assessing damage to
park facilities, salvaging equipment and cultural resources, and securing
NPS property from looters. The park staff will be available to continue to
assist with the broader community recovery operations in the coming days.
Park employees are doing a great job of keeping their spirits up and
helping each other and the rest of the community through this difficult
event.

Special Agent Neal Akana from Hawaii Volcanos National Park flew to
American Samoa this morning and has been acting as the NPS representative
at the FEMA Unified Command meetings. He is working with NPSA
Superintendent Mike Reynolds to prepare for the arrival of the Western
Incident Management Team, Critical Incident Stress Management personnel,
and other support staff who will arrive tomorrow. A team of Cultural
Resource Specialists will be assisting with the assessment and recovery of
cultural resources in the park and will likely assist with the broader
recovery efforts on the islands.

The Hawaii Natural History Association is currently setting up a relief
fund for affected employees at NPSA. We will pass along additional
information as we obtain it. Thank you everyone in the parks and regional
offices for your assistance in providing personnel and support for this
incident. We will reach out as needed for additional assistance. At the
moment, we believe the park's initial needs are being met.

This event is a good reminder why we engage in emergency planning. While
this is fresh, take some time to review park emergency plans and update
emergency contact information for all employees. You might consider what
it would take, and whether you are equipped to rapidly account for and
provide emergency information to all of your employees during a large scale
emergency.

Here are a couple of links to photos of the tsunami event:

http://picasaweb.google.com/qrkpub/SamoaTsunami

http://tropicalbrowns.blogspot.com/2009/09/tsunami-in-american-samoa.html