iReporter Alden Tagarino captured this image of the damage caused by the tsunami in Pago Pago.

(CNN) — Survivors of a deadly earthquake-triggered tsunami which hit the Samoan islands Tuesday have described how they watched the inrushing sea swallow up coastal towns and villages leaving devastation in its wake.

At least 111 people are confirmed killed in Samoa, neighboring American Samoa and Tonga. But officials in the Polynesia region have expressed fears the toll will rise as rescue workers struggle to reach outlying villages submerged and flattened by the wave.
American Samoa resident Frances Faumatu told CNN she had fled to Aoloau, the highest village on the island, as the earthquake shook her house.
“All of a sudden we heard on the radio everybody had to run for safety,” she said. “Right after the quake, the tsunami came.”
Faumatu and others stayed on the mountain for two or three hours until the warning was lifted, watching as the sea swallowed Pago Pago, island’s capital, and then receded.
At least 22 people are confirmed dead in the U.S. island territory. Cars, debris, and parts of buildings were randomly strewn over the landscape where the powerful waters dropped them.
But in some cases, the sea left nothing behind. “Other villages were taken to the ocean,” Faumatu said.
“I can’t even compare the image. It’s one thing to see a photo or footage, but just to be there in person is pretty dramatic,” Maneafaiga T. Lagafuaina told CNN Wednesday. “American Samoa itself is experiencing a great loss.”
The 8.0-magnitude quake hit the small cluster of Samoan islands in the South Pacific early Tuesday.
In Samoa, the death toll stands at 82, according to government minister Maulolo Tavita. But he said he feared the number of causalities would continue to rise.
Around 220,000 people live on the two main islands which make up the nation of Samoa. The population of American Samoa is about 66,000.
Salamo Laumoli, director of health services at the LBJ Tropical Medical Center in Pago Pago, said he feared more fatalities would turn up as rescue workers strived to access parts of the island severed by damaged infrastructure.
“I thought it was the end of the world,” said Laumoli. “I have never felt an earthquake like that before.”
Patients at the hospital were briefly moved to higher ground, but they were soon brought back and the hospital is operating, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency said. The airport in the capital of Pago Pago was also operational and being used for emergency flights, FEMA said.
A U.S. Coast Guard C-130 cargo plane was scheduled to land Wednesday around noon Eastern time, which coincides with sunrise in the Pacific U.S. protectorate, said Craig Fugate, FEMA administrator. A second C-130 was scheduled to land around 5 p.m. ET.
“The wave came onshore and washed out people’s homes,” said Cinta Brown, an American Samoa homeland security official working at the island’s emergency operations center.
The same happened on the hard-hit east and west sides of American Samoa, said Brown, who was standing in a parking lot when her sport utility vehicle began rocking left and right.
She said she could hear the rattling of metal of a large chain-link fence around the lot. “It shakes you because you know something else is coming,” she said.
The British Foreign Office said one of the dead in American Samoa was a British national, but no other details were provided.
In Tonga, Lord Tuita, the acting prime minister, said at least seven people had been confirmed dead on the northern island of Niuatoputapu. Three others were missing and four people were being treated for serious injuries, he said.
“The hospital on the island is reported to have suffered major damage; telephone communications has been cut as a result of damage to equipment and facilities on the island; homes and government buildings have been destroyed; the airport runway has been severely damaged making it impossible for any fixed wing aircraft to land,” a statement from the Tongan prime minister’s office said.
A series of aftershocks reverberated through the region Tuesday as reports emerged of entire villages flattened or submerged by the tsunami. The walls of water were so strong that they twisted concrete beams and mangled cars.
Laumoli said people in outlying villages on one end of the main American Samoa island had been cut off because the connecting bridge was washed away.
American Samoa Gov. Togiola Tulafono, speaking from Hawaii, said Tuesday’s quake ranked “right up there with some of the worst” disasters on the island. He said he had spoken to the military about mobilizing reserve forces for assistance.
Tulafono was on his way back home from Hawaii on Tuesday night on one of two U.S. Coast Guard transport planes delivering aid. He told reporters Tuesday it had been hard being away from home as the disaster unfolded. It was a time, he said, for families to be together.
President Obama declared American Samoa a major disaster area, ordering federal aid to supplement local efforts.
“We keep the many people who have been touched by this tragedy in our thoughts and in our prayers,” he said.
A U.S. Defense Department official said 75 members of the Hawaii National Guard were ordered to American Samoa to begin assisting with medical relief, search and rescue and providing communications capabilities on the island. The unit will bring enough supplies to sustain themselves for 96 hours and its expected more aid from the military could begin flowing in, the official said.
The Coast Guard is transporting more than 20 officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to American Samoa, said John Hamill, external affairs officer for FEMA in Oakland, California.

The FEMA team will include a variety of debris experts, housing experts, members of the Corps of Engineers, and other disaster relief specialists, Hamill said.
The quake generated three separate tsunami waves, the largest measuring 5.1 feet from sea level height, said Vindell Hsu, a geophysicist with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. Preliminary data had originally reported a larger tsunami.

Opposition Leader Keith Mitchell (file photo).

ST GEORGE?S, Grenada, CMC – Opposition Leader Keith Mitchell says the decision to bring a vote of no confidence against George McGuire, the Speaker of the Grenada Parliament, should not be regarded as an exercise in futility.

The no confidence motion filed by Mitchell?s New National Party (NNP) against the Speaker was easily defeated on Tuesday by a vote of 10-3 among lawmakers present for the debate, which was held in McGuire?s absence.

?We made our point and the nation is listening,? Mitchell said in an interview with the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).

?We did not necessarily expect it to pass because we knew that they had the majority and we knew that the Speaker was always being biased relative to the interest of the government. So we did not expect the government to turn around and vote against him.

?But we got a chance to ventilate the issues and I thought we did it in a very professional manner and so I think the result of it is what we expected,? Mitchell told CMC.

The motion was filed following McGuire?s decision to order Mitchell, a former prime minister out of the chamber during a debate in July. The opposition claimed the Speaker?s actions violated the rules of the House.

Tuesday?s sitting of Parliament was the first time other than the ceremonial opening of the new session earlier in September since Mitchell?s was escorted out following the spat with the Speaker..

Wednesday's earthquake was centered in Indonesia's West Sumatra province.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) — A major earthquake in Indonesia killed at least 75 people Wednesday, according to a Red Cross disaster report, citing an official report from the country’s vice president.

Earlier in the day an official said the quake toll was at least 21, with hundreds more injured.
Thousands may be trapped by collapsed buildings and houses, said Rustam Pakaya, the head of Ministry of Health’s crisis center.
He said 75 people were seriously injured.
The quake caused widespread power and phone outages, making it difficult to assess the scope of the damage.
It struck at around 5 p.m. local time, about 33 miles (53 kilometers) from Padang, the capital city of West Sumatra. Padang is home to more than 800,000 people.
The earthquake, which had a magnitude of 7.6, according to the U.S Geological Survey, caused widespread power and phone outages, making it difficult for authorities and aid organizations to evaluate damage.
“The situation is quite devastating,” said Amelia Merrick, the operations director for World Vision Indonesia.
“Bridges have gone down, phone lines are in total disrepair; it’s difficult for us to assess the situation,” she said. The organization had said it would send assessment teams to the area Thursday morning.
“We know there’s no electricity tonight… many of the families will be spending the night outdoors, in pitch black. I’m very afraid of what might happen next,” she said, referring to the possibility of aftershocks.
State-run Antara news agency cited Pakaya as saying he had received reports that part of a hospital had collapsed and that people were buried under the debris.
The earthquake was felt in nearby cities, such as Medan and Gengkulu, where people panicked and ran outside in search of higher ground, fearing a tsunami.
But it was also felt as far away as Singapore and Malaysia.
“I did feel the tremor in office today somewhere between 5 – 6 p.m.,” said Ratna Osman, who works in a single-story office building in Petaling Jaya, just outside Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur.
“I asked [a co-worker] if there’s an earthquake somewhere — either that or I was hallucinating.”
“At first, I thought the chair I was sitting on had a screw loose or something,” Osman said.
The region is accustomed to earthquakes, and locals have been taught to identify safe places in case of a tsunami, according to Sean Granville-Ross, the Mercy Corps country director for Indonesia. “We hope that preparation is now paying off,” he said.
But if many homes have been destroyed, people may be spending the night with no shelter, he said.
Several buildings were damaged, Metro TV reported, and people were seen running out of their homes and toward the hills. One employee of a private company in Jalan Ahmad Yani, told Antara news agency that “everybody panicked with some shouting ‘earthquake.’”
TVOne pictures from the scene showed people milling around outside in the city.
Phone lines were apparently down in many parts of Padang. Indonesia’s Tempo Interactive, a media outlet based in Jakarta, had trouble reaching its correspondent in the West Sumatra city, according to journalist Purwani Diyah Prabandari.
“I hope it’s just the cell phone connection,” Prabandari told CNN.
Indonesians trying to find out more about the quake flooded the Internet, including Twitter. Some expressed concern for relatives and friends in Padang.
“Dear God, please send down your angels to hug and protect my grandpa in Padang,” said one Twitter post.
The Web site for one of Indonesia’s main newspapers, The Jakarta Globe, crashed for a while, partly as a result of the heavy traffic from people trying to find out about the quake, the paper said in a Twitter post.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a tsunami watch for Indonesia, India, Thailand and Malaysia, but canceled it soon after.
The temblor did generate a tsunami just under one foot high, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.
On Tuesday, a magnitude 8.0 quake-triggered tsunami killed at least 111 people in the Samoan islands and Tonga.
The tsunami waves swept across a wide swath of the Pacific Ocean, killing dozens and flattening or submerging villages. The dead included 22 in American Samoa, 82 in Samoa and seven in Tonga.
Officials warned that the death toll could rise as rescue workers start to reach outlying villages and discover new casualties.
The U.S. Geological Survey declined to say whether the two quakes were linked.
“The simple answer is we can’t speculate on a connection,” Carrieann Bedwell of the USGS told CNN. “Both are in highly seismic areas.”
The epicenters of the two temblors are about 4,700 miles (7,600 km) apart.

BELMOPAN, Belize, CMC – Two former government ministers have been cleared

JERUSALEM (CNN) — Israel will release 20 Palestinian female prisoners and detainees in a deal to obtain a recent proof-of-life videotape of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, the Israeli Security Cabinet announced Wednesday.

Shalit was captured June 25, 2006, in a cross-border raid by Palestinian forces.

“It is important that the entire world know that Gilad Shalit is alive and well and that Hamas is responsible for his well-being and fate,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Hamas issued a statement confirming the deal.

“The Palestinian factions which completed this step is confirming the steadfastness of its position and its commitment to make its best effort to complete the deal to release our prisoners from the Zionist jails,” said Abu Obeida, a spokesman for the Ezzedeen Al Qassam Brigades.

The list of female prisoners and detainees designated for release, information about them and the release process will be posted Wednesday on the Israel Prison Service Web site, Israel said.
Hamas gave this breakdown:

– Four prisoners from Hamas.

– Five prisoners from Fatah.

– Three prisoners from the Islamic Jihad.

– One prisoner of the Popular Front.

– Seven “independent” prisoners no affiliated with a group.

The geographical distribution is:

– Three prisoners from Hebron.

– Eight prisoners from Nablus.

– Four prisoners from Ramallah.

– Three prisoners from Bethlehem.

– A captive and her child from the Gaza Strip.

Egypt and Germany proposed the deal as a “confidence-building measure,” the Israeli statement said.

Israel said it will continue to negotiate for Shalit’s release but it expects the talks will be “long and arduous.”

Finance Minister Audley Shaw (file photo).

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Finance Minister Audley Shaw has announced

The top military commander in Iraq says the U.S. is on track to end its combat mission in Iraq by next year.

(CNN) — The United States will withdraw another 4,000 troops in Iraq by the end of October, the U.S. military commander in Iraq said in prepared testimony for a congressional hearing Wednesday.

The top military commander in Iraq says the U.S. is on track to end its combat mission in Iraq by next year.

U.S. Gen. Ray Odierno is expected to tell the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee that there has been a significant drop in violence in Iraq recently, according to the statement obtained by CNN.

President Obama has said the U.S. combat mission in Iraq will end by August 31, 2010. Obama also said he plans to keep a range of 35,000 to 50,000 support troops on the ground in Iraq after combat troops are out.

“We have approximately 124,000 troops and 11 Combat Teams operating in Iraq today. By the end of October, I believe we will be down to 120,000 troops in Iraq,” Odierno said in the remarks.

Odierno said statistics show violence has dropped in Iraq.

“Overall attacks have decreased 85 percent over the past two years from 4,064 in August 2007 to 594 in August 2009, with 563 in September so far,” Odierno said. “In that same time period, U.S. military deaths have decreased by 93 percent, Iraqi Security Force deaths have decreased 79 percent.”

Odierno said there were still security questions.

“Although security is improving, it is not yet enduring. There still remain underlying, unresolved sources of potential conflict,” Odierno said.

Odierno pointed to the August 19 bombings in Baghdad that targeted the Ministries of Finance and Foreign Affairs that killed more than 100 people as an example of ongoing challenges in Iraq.

However, Odierno gave a vote of confidence to the Iraqi forces who had taken over security for Baghdad after U.S. forces handed over control.

“The Iraqis wanted to be in charge; they wanted the responsibilities; and they have demonstrated that they are capable,” he said.

PM Ingraham addressed the two-day Americas Conference in Miami.

MIAMI, Florida, CMC – Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham has told an international conference here that the global economic crisis has severely impacted the Bahamas, resulting in growing unemployment, decelerating private sector credit and falling foreign direct investment.

Addressing the Americas Conference organised by the World Bank, the State of Florida, Florida International University and the Miami Herald, Ingraham said that ?our prospects for the future, before the crisis? had been promising.

?Now we have substantially reduced levels of investments, weakened tourism arrivals and expenditures and declining government revenue.

Pic Source: http://www2a.cdc.gov/podcasts/browse.asp?topic=swine%20flu

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Local health officials have confirmed that Barbados has recorded its first death attributed to the Influenza A (H1N1) virus, more commonly referred to as Swine Flu.

Although the authorities have not disclosed the identity of the individual, Chief Medical Officer Dr Joy St John said the patient was an ?adult with underlying medical conditions?.

Dr St John said so far there have been 96 confirmed cases of the virus on the island but quickly added that the figure does not truly represent the extent of the spread of Swine Flu in Barbados, since not all persons who have had flu symptoms have sought medical attention.

The World Health Organisation said that more than 300,000 cases have been confirmed across the world and that more than 3,900 people have died as a result.

A man tries to get into his flooded house in Hoi An in the central Vietnamese province of Quang Nam.

(CNN) — Ketsana, downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical depression, set its sights on a fourth nation Wednesday — barreling toward Laos after leaving a trail of destruction and death across southeast Asia.

By Wednesday morning, the death toll from the storm’s rage had topped 325: at least 246 in the Philippines, 74 in Vietnam and nine in Cambodia.
With heavy rains still lashing Vietnam, some major roads were closed and rivers and flood waters were rising. But the airport in the coastal city of Danang, which had been closed for three days, reopened Wednesday.
Workers used chainsaws to clear toppled trees from roads so rescue crews could rush relief supplies to the worst-hit areas. Families waded through knee-deep water to salvage precious belongings from flooded houses.
In Danang, an ill elderly woman was brought to safety on a make-shift raft made of banana tree trunks and leaves. She said eight other family members remained on the rooftop where they had found refuge.
In addition to the 74 deaths, the Vietnamese government said 179 people were injured.
The numbers, the government said, are expected to rise because officials have not been able to reach some isolated areas.
Vietnam has not asked for aid but some international relief agencies were providing help, which the government accepted.
In neighboring Cambodia, the storm knocked down 92 houses in Kampong Thom province, about 80 miles (130 km) north of the capital Phnom Penh.
Along with the usual rice and blankets, the Cambodian Red Cross planned to donate $120 to each of the affected families so they can afford a traditional funeral for their loved ones.
The nine deaths reported in Cambodia were all in Kampong Thom, with 40 others injured there, the Red Cross said.
The worst-hit country, the Philippines, began the slow process of clearing up mud and debris Wednesday.
Even as they did so, Filipinos kept their eyes peeled on another storm looming in the Pacific Ocean.
In the city of Pasig — part of metropolitan Manila — enterprising residents used inflatable mattresses as makeshift boats to ferry people through flooded streets.
The government, which some people said did not act quickly enough, opened up part of the presidential palace for aid distribution.
Ketsana left at least 246 people dead as it passed over the Philippines. Another 38 people were still missing, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said.
The storm affected nearly 2 million people and forced the evacuation of 567,000. At one point, 80 percent of the capital Manila was under water after experiencing the heaviest rainfall in 40 years.
As the death toll rose, so did the collective grief.
“I did not know what happened,” said Gingerly Comprendio. “We were on top of a roof. We got separated. The next day when I came back to our house, I saw my eldest already dead and my aunt saw my other child buried in the mud.”
Ray Lee, a prominent judge, single-handedly saved 32 people using his jet ski.
“There were cries for help, so I returned to other houses or roofs and retrieved all the people there,” he said.

To help avoid a humanitarian catastrophe, several nations have rallied to the Philippines’ side.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the United Nations was considering an emergency appeal for aid as several U.N. agencies pledged support. The World Food Program said it will provide rations to 180,000 people.