Noticeboard: Looking for Loved Ones In South Coast Samoa

I’ve been receiving a steady stream of requests for help in locating missing friends and family in Samoa. Some have been located within 24 hours. Others have yet to be. To answer questions about the villages of Lotofaga and Lalomanu, this is as much as we know at this point. Information is slowly trickling in. For the most part, the survivors are either being treated at the hospital or quietly getting on with clearing up their villages, where-ever possible, or mourning and preparing burials for those who didn’t make it.

1. Lotofaga

   A number of readers have emailed asking for more information on Lotofaga. It hasn’t been easy getting through on the phones there. From what I have been told: expect casualties there, the village is very close to the coast, rather than inland. Pray for a miracle and be strong.

2. Lalomanu

As you may already know from news reports and family, Lalomanu was completely wiped as a village, beach fales gone, it’s desolated. The good news, for a number of children who were missing in Lalomanu, in one case a family of six children were missing. They were at school when the tsunami hit so they survived. There are still many reported missing and families in NZ are having a difficult time getting through on the lines. But some families have received news this morning from those in Apia. So keep strong. The death toll is not fully know right now as bodies are still being retrieved.

Do you have any information on the following people in Samoa?

These are requests from friends or family of those in Samoa. Email editor@pacificeyewitness.org or write a comment on the site. We will pass on the information. Thank you very much.

MISSING

1. Mrs. Luluù Berns (resident in Brisbane but visiting the sick mother Lua) and his family and the families Falinga and Fauena residents in Saleapaga and Lalomanu us you would be very helpful.Daniel and Elisabetta Bertani, Italy.
2. Tapu legalo, in Saleapaga( which is in the district of Aleipata), his sister Kuruseta, and all the kids living around faofao.. does anyone know what happened to them?Daniel Dencik
   A number of readers have asked after Tapu and her family.
3. Please read the comments section of this posting for other readers seeking information on missing friends and family.
4. In fact, many of the comments contain request for information on the missing. Please check them out and if you can help with information, send it through to editor@pacificeyewitness.org or post it directly to comments.

FOUND

This morning, one of our readers Mary-Beth Hunter and Brett Gillies received word that their co-worker Chris Kroger and her daughter, who were holidaying at Litia Sini, have been found in Apia. Excellent news.

We’ve also received some good news from family and friends missing in Lalomanu since the tsunami, who have been found this morning. Still others not yet found.
***Please check other postings on this website as this information will be updated. Any additional names not on this post will be headlined Noticeboard