Samoan crisis

SOME frightened Samoans who fled to the hills as a tsunami tore through their seaside villages vowed never to return to the coastline, while aid workers delivered water and medicine amid the growing stench of decay.

Grieving survivors began to bury their loved ones, while others gathered under a traditional meeting house to hear a government minister discuss plans for a mass funeral and burial next week.

The death toll from Tuesday’s earthquake and tsunami rose to 169 as searchers found more bodies in Samoa, where 129 were confirmed dead, police commissioner Lilo Maiava said. Another 31 were killed in the US territory of American Samoa and nine in Tonga.