Cemeteries "belching up" coffins and giant buildings wiped out was the horrific tale a Hawke's Bay couple, living in American Samoa, had to tell after this week's tsunami.
But for parents Alys Alexander and Tom Wares, of Taradale, it was a relief to hear from daughter Lyn Alexander and her husband
Ian Price at all.
The death toll from Wednesday's tsunami has reached 148, with 110 dead in Samoa, 31 in American Samoa and seven in Tonga. Hundreds more are missing and the couple feared their daughter was among them.
It was not until the afternoon they learned they were safe and well, after hours of worry and about 30 phone calls from friends and family seeking word.
"We were really worried at lunchtime when we heard a New Zealander had died," said Mrs Alexander.
Finally hearing from the pair was "wonderful".
In an email, their daughter described her experience, from the rolling earthquake at 6.48am that measured 8.3 on the Richter scale and triggered the tsunami, to the mess and disaster caused by the giant wave.
Mr Price was at work at the dock in Pago Pago when a half-mile wide swell came through, rising up to three metres in 30 seconds. The site was evacuated. Lyn Alexander was at home when the wave hit and found it strange only a section of the area was affected.
"You drive through the village, reach the wave section that looks like a bomb site, then . . . everything's back to the same old. How something so devastating can be isolated to one small area and not affect everyone is just unreal," she said.
She said buildings as large as 2000sq ft (186sq m) had been razed, with only the concrete foundation remaining, a massive car showroom was now full of tangled trees and rubbish with "not a vehicle in sight".
"Coffins are scattered about the roadways where the cemetery has belched them up, parts of houses, commercial buildings and such are deposited in several different streets," she said.
She said while some areas were destroyed, their home, 17km away, was untouched with power, phone lines, internet and running water intact.
"How lucky are we," she said.
"I have experienced far more brutal jolts than this one, living back in Napier and Wellington, so I really had no idea of the devastation that was to follow."
