Fifth Australian dies in Samoa tsunami

A 30-year-old woman has been confirmed as the fifth Australian to be killed in a
devastating tsunami that has left Samoa facing a humanitarian disaster.

There are fears the number of people killed in the tsunami that pounded the Samoa
islands and Tonga following an 8.0-magnitude undersea quake last week will soon rise
above 200.
The number of people confirmed dead from the tragedy in Samoa, American Samoa and
Tonga reached 176 on Saturday, and there are grave fears for 12 others still
missing.
Officials have warned the toll would rise even further and have voiced concerns
about the potential for outbreaks of disease.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said on Sunday a dual
Samoan-Australian citizen had died during the tsunami, which hit the region on
Wednesday, Australian time.
Australian officials were only informed of her death on Saturday.
It is understood she had lived in Samoa for some time, but a DFAT spokeswoman said
the woman had family in both countries.
She would not verify a report the woman was from the south coast of the Samoan
island of Upolu.
The confirmation brings the number of Australian victims to five: three adults and
two children.
The Australians confirmed dead include Vivien Hodgins, 56, from Victoria,
six-year-old Clea Salavert Wykes and Tasmanian horse trainer Maree Blacker, who was
in Samoa celebrating her 50th birthday.
The fourth Australian victim, a 15-month-old boy, is yet to be named.
Victorian mother-of-three Claire Rowlands, who was injured in the tsunami, remains
in a stable condition in Nepean Hospital, in Sydney's outer west.
The 55-year-old teacher from Smeaton, northwest of Melbourne, was a close friend of
Ms Hodgins.
Three other Australians, out of a group of six, remain in a Queensland hospital
after being evacuated from Samoa.
One man is in a serious condition, while the other two, a man and a woman, are stable.
Dr Daniel Bitmead, a medical care supervisor at Ipswich Hospital, said they had
injuries the likes of which he had never seen.
The three other Australians, who were flown to Queensland from the Pacific island
early on Friday, have been released from hospital.
An Adelaide-based orthopaedic surgeon, Rob Atkinson, who is treating patients in the
tsunami ward in the Samoan capital of Apia, has said many of the injured have
potentially fatal wounds.
"They look as though they have been churned up in a massive, really dirty washing
machine because they basically have been."
Meanwhile, authorities in Samoa are facing a humanitarian disaster amid fears of
outbreaks of disease.
Dr Limbo Fiu, a manager with the National Health Service in Samoa, said a second
wave of deaths was looming as the injured continued to trickle into hospitals.
"In a few weeks, we will see many people sick with gastroenteritis and diarrhoea.
That will affect the young and the elderly. Deaths are inevitable," he told
reporters.
Eighty-eight Australians have been deployed to Samoa, making up medical and search
teams to help those hit by the waves.
Five Sydney-based travel agents have embarked on their own mercy dash, flying out to
Samoa on Sunday to deliver 300 kg of supplies.
Using their own money and donations, the team put together a host of items including
baby clothes and formula, nappies, powdered milk and hardware supplies to build
shelters.
One of the group, Jacqueline Namaz, had contacted Samoan tourism authorities to see
what supplies locals needed and was told that while a lot of food was being
delivered, babies, many of them orphans, were missing out.
"We are so close and we are so lucky and we have so much and they have lost
everything," she told AAP.
"I can't just donate money, I have to get over there, I have got two arms and two
legs and I can do something."