Samoans mourn tsunami victims

APIA, Samoa (AP) — Islanders gathered Sunday to mourn victims of the South Pacific tsunami that obliterated entire villages on the shores of American Samoa and Samoa, leaving at least 176 dead.

Monsignor Ioane Vito celebrated the first Mass of the day in a 19th-century Roman Catholic cathedral on the waterfront of the Samoan capital, Apia, urging the congregation to unify to rebuild from the disaster that devastated the opposite side of Upolu island.

“Don’t dwell on it but rebuild our lives together as a community,” Vito said at the Immaculate Conception of Mary Cathedral.

Unity also was the theme on American Samoa, where residents were set to hold a national prayer service that territorial Gov. Togiola Tulafono said would bring the community together. It will be at the headquarters of the Congregational Christian Church of American Samoa, the largest religious denomination in the U.S. territory.

Families were still coming to terms with the sudden losses inflicted by Tuesday’s tsunami waves that roared ashore after an underwater earthquake with a magnitude of up to 8.3. The disaster claimed at least 176 lives in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga.

Villagers in remote areas of American Samoa were waiting for government officials to assess damage to their homes and shops before they can start to clean up.

Government minister Fiana Naomi said Saturday she expected about half of Samoa’s 135 victims would be buried in mass graves of up to 20 in a new cemetery in the capital Apia on Thursday after a memorial service in a nearby sports stadium. The state would cover the costs.