QUAKES, TSUNAMI WREAK HAVOC

       Towering tsunami waves churned up by a huge into the Samoan Islands on Tuesday,killing at least 120 people as they wiped out entire villages and flattened touristresorts.
       And then yesterday,a powerful earthquake struck off Indonesia's Sumatra Island,toppling buildings and sparking panic among residents,officials and local television reports said.
       "We have received reports many buildings, including hotels, in Padang(Indonesia)collapsed," said Rachmat Priyono, an official at Indonesia's National Meteorological and Geophysics Agency.
       Telephone communications to Padang and nearby Pariaman district were cut following the quake, local residents told television reporters.
       Thequake,measuring7.6 on the Richter scale, struck at 5.16 pm at a depth of 71 kilometres,about57kilometres southwest of Pariaman in West Sumatra Province.
       The Pacific Tsunami WarningCentre issued atsunami alert for Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Thailand after the quake but cancelled it a few hours later.
       In the Samoan Islands,monster waves that witnesses and officials said measured 3-7.5-metres high, pounded the remote Pacific islands after an 8-magnitude undersea quake struck early Tuesday morning.
       While the earthquake toppled buildings and sent thousands fleeing to high ground as the tsunami approached,many others were hit by the walls of water that swept people and cars out to sea and obliterated coastal settlements.
       US President Barack Obama called the incident in the outlying US territory of American Samoa a "major disaster" and vowed "aggressive"action to help survivors.
       "I am closely monitoring these tragic events and have declared a major disaster for American Samoa, which will provide the tools necessary for a full, swift and aggressive response,"he said.
       Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Maliclegaoi said he was "shocked beyond belief".
       "So much has gone. So many people are gone," he told Australian Associated Press. "I'm so shocked,so saddened by all the loss."
       The tsunamis swept across the Pacific Ocean and battered Samoa,where hospital workers said it killed at least 84 people; American Samoa,with22dead;and Tonga,where at least seven people died.
       As Australia, New Zealand and the United States led with immediate pledges of assistance,scores more people were missing and feared dead in the chaos and despair that the twin disaster left in its wake.
       "We are getting reports of missing people in areas where damage is extensive on the south and southeast coasts,"local journalist Jona Tuiletufuga said. "Entire villages have been wiped out."
       Up to70 villages stood in the way of the waves in the worsthitarea,each housing 300-800 people, Tuiletufuga said.
       Nine members of one family were killed in the village of Lalomanu in southeastern Samoa,a relative said.