Thousands of panicking South Pacific islanders ran from coastlines after a series of strong earthquakes rocked the region creating a small tsunami today, just over a week after a massive wave killed 178 people in the Samoas and Tonga.

SAMOANS searched flattened homes and debris-filled swamps, while dazed survivors told of being trapped underwater or flung inland by a tsunami that ravaged towns and killed at least 150 people in the South Pacific.

Scores of people were dead and missing today after a powerful earthquake in the South Pacific hurled a massive tsunami at the shores of Samoa and American Samoa.