'90 percent' of island's housing destroyed

Houses on the coastline of Samoa were totally flattened by the tsunami. Photo / NZDF

APIA, Samoa - The unofficial death toll from the Samoan tsunami has reached 149 amid more stories of devastation.

In Tonga a boat carrying emergency supplies is due to arrive on the Tongan island of Toputapu at 6pm.

Prime Minister Feleti Vaka'uta Sevele's press secretary Lopeti Senituli told nzherald.co.nz "about 90 per cent" of the island's housing had been destroyed.

Nine people have so far been confirmed dead on the island.

Toputapu, with a population of 1000, is closer to Samoa than the main island of Tonga - Tongatapu.

Mr Senituli said three people are missing and four have serious injuries after three waves with an average height of six metres crashed into the island yesterday morning.

FACT BOX

**Two New Zealanders confirmed dead, one missing, 19 injured

View Samoa earthquake in a larger map

Samoa

In Samoa police searched a ghastly landscape of mud-strewn streets, pulverized homes and bodies scattered in a swamp today as dazed survivors emerged from the muck and mire of the earthquake and tsunami.

Military transports flew medical personnel, food, water and medicine to Samoa and American Samoa, both devastated by a tsunami triggered by an undersea earthquake. A cargo plane from New Zealand brought in a temporary morgue and a body identification team.