Aid flows to tsunami-hit Samoas; death toll at 119

APIA, Samoa — Police in green reflective vests searched a ghastly landscape of mud-strewn streets, pulverized homes and bodies scattered in a swamp Wednesday as dazed survivors emerged from the muck and mire of an earthquake and tsunami that killed 119 in the South Pacific.

Military transports flew medical personnel, food, water and medicine to the islands of Samoa and American Samoa, which were devastated by the wall of water triggered by Tuesday morning's undersea earthquake. One cargo plane from New Zealand brought in a temporary morgue and a body identification team — with officials expecting the death toll to rise as more areas are searched.

Cars and boats — many battered and upside down — littered the coastline. Debris as small as a spoon and as large as a piece of masonry weighing several tons were strewn in the mud.

Survivors told harrowing tales of encountering the deadly tsunami.

"I was scared. I was shocked," said Didi Afuafi, 28, who was on a bus when the giant waves came ashore on American Samoa. "All the people on the bus were screaming, crying and trying to call their homes. We couldn't get on cell phones. The phones just died on us. It was just crazy."

With the water approaching fast, the bus driver sped to the top of a nearby mountain, where 300 to 500 people were gathered, including patients evacuated from the main hospital. Among them were newborns with IVs, crying children and frightened elderly people.

A family atop the mountain provided food and water, while clergymen led prayers. Afuafi helped evacuate some patients, and said people are on still on edge and feared another quake.

"This is going to be talked about for generations," said Afuafi, who lives just outside the village of Leone, one of the hardest hit areas.

Suavai Ioane was rattled by the violent earthquake that shook his village of 600 people on Samoa — but he didn't have much time to calm down.

"After the shaking finished, about five or 10 minutes after, the wave very quickly came over us," said Ioane, who was carried by a wave about 80 yards inland from his village of Voutosi. He knew he was lucky to be alive; eight bodies were found in a nearby swamp.

Some people had enough warning to run to higher ground.