The confirmed death toll from the devastating tsunamis that crashed into the Samoa islands and Tonga has risen to 164 with at least 16 more people unaccounted for, officials said Friday.
There were 123 dead in Samoa, 32 in American Samoa and nine people were killed on a nearby island in Tonga.
A magnitude 8.0 earthquake just before 7:00 am on Tuesday triggered the tsunamis which, according to survivors, rose up to nine metres (30 feet) as they pounded into coastal settlements.
"We have 123 dead and 16 missing at this stage," a spokeswoman for the Samoa government, Vaosa Epa, told AFP.
She said doctors at the main hospital in Apia had treated more than 300 people for injuries and all but 50 had been discharged three days after the tragedy.
In American Samoa, 100 kilometres (60 miles) away, the director of Homeland Security, Michael Sala, said the confirmed toll there was 32 following a count by all the village mayors.
In Tonga, nine people were killed on the small northern island of Niuatoputapu and a government spokesman said they were confident everyone had been accounted for.
American Samoa's governor said most search and rescue operations had been halted and the situation was stabilising, a US aid official who spoke with him said.
Governor Togiola Tulafono told the Federal Emergency Management Agency by phone that "they had essentially completed the bulk of the search and rescue," said FEMA chief Craig Fugate.
"They had a few missing people that they were still searching for, but he felt the situation was stabilising, and has adjusted his request to focus more now on life-sustaining operations including additional generator support and power restoration on the island," Fugate said.
Fugate said that on American Samoa more than 1,000 homeless were huddled in emergency shelters, while about 6,000 people were still without power three days after Tuesday's disaster.
LOCAL NEWS
Samoa tsunami death toll rises to 164
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