8 May 2006

American Samoa wants review of tsunami response effort

1:16 pm on 8 May 2006

The American Samoa Senate President, Lolo Letalu Moliga, is calling for a hearing on Tuesday on the handling of the tsunami warning by emergency response personnel.

A 7.8 earthquake which hit Tonga last Tuesday triggered tsunami warnings in several countries in the Pacific region, including America Samoa.

The warnings were later lifted.

Lolo says Senators are not at all happy with the response by government agencies.

He says the Senate will question officials from Homeland Security, TEMCO, Department of Public Safety, Samoan Affairs, the American Samoa Telecommunications Authority and the Tafuna Weather Bureau and KSBS radio.

The Senate President has also written to Governor Togiola Tulafono informing him of the hearing.

He says the intention is not to find fault but to correct and remove impediments which caused the emergency system to fail.