Samoan Deaths Now 10

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30975, 3 February 1966, Page 3

Samoan Deaths Now 10

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.)

APIA (Western Samoa Feb.2.

The death toll from the hurricane which devastated Western Samoa earlier this week stood at 10 at noon today.

Final figures are likely to be known tomorrow when police and agricultural inspectors return to Apia after a survey. Assessment of damage has been hampered by many districts being inaccessible, with roads washed out or blocked by fallen trees. Export losses from damaged crops are estimated about £1 million. Agriculture officials estimate that 95 per cent of the banana crop has been destroyed, 75 per cent of the breadfruit crop and 20 per cent of the cocoa harvest. Coconut plantations have escaped lightly with only about 5 per cent of the crop damaged. Banana trees take nine months to a year to recover, breadfruit six years. According to older residents in the islands, the hurricane is the worst in memory, rivalled only by the blow of 1902. The Minister of Island Territories (Mr Hanan) said in

Wellington today it was too early to be sure of all the damage done by the hurricane in the Cook Islands. “I know the authorities and people of the Cook Islands are working strenuously and taking all possible precautions,” he said. He said in a statement that Palmerston atoll —the worst hit in the Cook Islands group to date—had suffered no casualties. An Island Territories Department spokesman said hurricane-driven waves were within a few feet of Palmerston’s radio station, the island’s only link with the outside. He said Palmerston atoll was only 14 feet above sea level at its highest point. Fifty-six passengers in an Air New Zealand DCB which was turned back to Auckland from a trip to Pago Pago earlier this week will again leave Auckland tomorrow morning. An Air New Zealand spokesman said a DCB would take the passengers the 1800 miles direct to Pago Pago—the first such trip to be made by the airline’s new jet.