Reports are coming in that most Samoans were barely given a three minute warning before a deadly tidal wave struck early Wednesday morning killing at least 119 people after a powerful earthquake shook the region.
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The first few survivors who reached Sydney have horrifying stories to tell, reported ABC News Australia
Tua Taleu says she survived because her family went to higher ground.
"We went to the mountain and we stayed there, but the other side of the island was destroyed," she said.
"Some they have no places [to run], especially kids and the oldest, they lost their lives."
Another survivor from Revesby in Sydney's south-west told ABC News Australia that all she could hear was screaming after the earthquake hit.
"So we ran, which was about 200 metres to where the coast is, and we can see there was a wave coming towards us."But it was broken by the reef, so by the time it got to us it didn't reach us that much, but on the side where it got hit the most, apparently the wave came 400 metres inland."
Similarly in Indonesia where a 7.6 scale earthquake hit earlier today, eyewitnesses have frightening stories to tell.
The Herald reported an eyewitness saying:
"Hundreds of houses have been damaged along the road. There are some fires, bridges are cut and there is extreme panic here maybe because water pipes are broken and there is flooding in the streets."
Watch videos, some professional and some amateur, coming out of American Samoa and Samoa, Indonesia and Vietnam.
American Samoa/Samoa Tsunami:
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Rescue Operations:
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Indonesia Earthquake:
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