Small Quake-Spawned Tsunami Leaves American Samoa Park Undamaged

National Park of American Samoa (AS)
Small Quake-Spawned Tsunami Leaves Park Undamaged

The massive earthquake that struck off the Chilean coast Friday night led to the issuance of a major tsunami warning to all Pacific Islands, including American Samoa. The tsunami was scheduled to hit American Samoa at 8:51 a.m., providing approximately 12 hours warning. Because of last September’s tsunami, which caused extensive destruction and loss of life in Samoa, both the park and territory reacted strongly to the alert. All park staff were alerted between 2:30 and 6 a.m. ICS was activated, the Pacific Command Center (dispatch at Hawaii Volcanoes) was alerted, and region was notified. Maintenance crews removed the generators and fuel from the park’s sea level storage at Pago Plaza, and other preparations were completed. At about 9:30 a.m., a small, barely visible, 2.3-foot tsunami surge reached the islands, doing no damage. Park staff were again contacted and found to be okay.