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"Lest we forget", say the words scrawled in red on a yellow ute abandoned on the roadside.
Then immediately under them: "Life goes on and on."
That, it seems, is true in tsunami-stricken Samoa.
There has been no time to grieve and no time to mourn those killed or missing.
Instead, there is work to do. So much work.
As day breaks, less than 24 hours after Tuesday's earthquake, the clean-up begins in the coastal area of south-east Upolu Island, which bore the brunt of the post-quake sea surge.
The village of Ulutogia has been destroyed. Floating furniture bobs in the tide, parts of the road have slipped away, power poles are knocked to the ground.
Homes have been flattened and rubble is strewn everywhere.
Slick silt covers everything up to at least 100m inland from the shore, leaving a tell-tale trail of the water's destructive path.
The people of Ulutogia have lost everything, but they thank God that no one in the village perished.
One by one as the sun rises, they walk down from high ground where they fled to safety and begin the arduous task of rebuilding their lives.
The people watch carefully as we approach.
But even amid the tragedy, they can smile, wave and share their story.
When Faaolaina Kalolo's dogs gathered at the seaside after the earthquake, he took notice. When they began barking, he listened. When they fled to the taro plantation in the hills, he sounded the alarm.
"If the dogs run to safety, you follow. You run," he says.
As the new day dawns, the father of three is unfazed by the scale of the task facing his people.
"We are so thankful to be alive. So many others in other villages have been lost," Mr Kalolo says, pointing up the road.
A short drive around the coast leads to Lalomanu.
On the south-eastern tip of the island, it was completely exposed and never stood a chance against the ocean's power.
When we arrived in Samoa on the day of the tragedy, 58 of the then-confirmed 79 dead in the morgue were from Lalomanu.
The country's body count rose to 110 yesterday, after teams of police scoured the coastline for people buried among the debris or swept out to sea.
Seventeen-year-old Sio Taufua limps along the Lalomanu road to the remains of Taufua Fale, his family home, which often hosted tourists, most recently a group of high school students from Palmerston North.
All that remains is a slab of concrete foundation.
Clad in camouflage fatigues, Sio rolls a cigarette and points out his family's household items - a fridge here, a car there. The precious belongings are strewn over hundreds of metres.
Lalomanu is no longer a thriving tourist spot. Now, it is a rubbish dump.
"There is nothing here. It's gone. Nothing," says Sio.
He watched as the tsunami sucked the water from the shoreline, draining the channel dry, before surging back to to deluge the land.
Because the curved, steep cliffs created a basin effect, Sio says, the water wall sloshed around for close to 10 minutes before subsiding.
He matter-of-factly describes scenes of chaos, telling of of screaming tourists who had gathered at the beach, and a brother who climbed to safety in a coconut tree.
But his grandfather is missing. His younger brother and sister are dead. He dragged a tourist out of the water, but she was dead.
The desolation becomes desensitising.
Along the coast, different village, same story. And the same stoic smile and wave.
Then the people go back to work. One piece at a time. It's backbreaking, and heartbreaking.
Yet everywhere there are things that make you smile.
The dairy in the middle of nowhere selling ice-cold Coke, with just a hint of salty seawater.
A stranded sea turtle, closer to the bush than the beach. It would take four strong men to carry it back to the sea, and the locals laugh that it would be easier to have it for lunch. Turns out they weren't joking.
As the death toll continues to rise, a doctor says that despite outward appearances, her people will grieve for their lost ones.
Life will go on, but Samoa needs time.
"We just haven't had time to mourn," she says. "But we will."
How you can help
Pacific Cooperation Foundation
Deposits can be made at at any Westpac branch. All the money raised will go to the Samoan Government
Red Cross
- Make a secure online donation at redcross.org.nz
- Send cheques to the Samoan Red Cross Fund, PO Box 12140, Thorndon, Wellington 6144
- Call 0900 31 100 to make an automatic $20 donation
- Make a donation at any NZ Red Cross office
ANZ bank
Make a donation at any ANZ bank branch, or donate directly to the ANZ appeal account: 01 1839 0143546 00
Oxfam
- Make a secure online donation at oxfam.org.nz
- Phone 0800 400 666 or make an automatic $20 donation by calling 0900 600 20
