Sydney, October 01: Two massive seismic jolts – similarly deadly, but as yet unrelated – brought chaos and destruction to a vast swath of the Pacific Rim yesterday, killing several hundred people and leaving thousands more feared trapped under piles of rubble on a day when nature showed her deadly hand.
A tsunami, set off by a powerful dawn earthquake, flattened villages on the Samoan islands and swept people and vehicles out to sea as surging water reached more than a mile inland. Just hours later, another large quake struck offshore from the Indonesian island of Sumatra, bringing down buildings and sparking widespread panic.
Last night, full details of the destruction caused by the ruptures deep beneath the Earth’s crust were still emerging, but it was feared the combined death toll of about 300 would leap dramatically, possibly into the “thousands” as rescue workers scrambled into action across a massive area.
–Agencies