Are you in Samoa?
Send us your stories, photos and video
Follow us on Twitter
Kerry and Lynne Martin yesterday walked quietly hand-in-hand through the ruins of the Taufua Beach Fales resort and stared out at the water which took their two daughters from them.
The Matamata couple took photos and hugged Samoan liaison officer to New Zealand, Ross Ardern, and his wife Laurelle, whom they have been staying with in the village of Alafoa near Apia since Friday.
It is understood the bodies of their daughters, Petria, 24, and Rebecca, 22, were yesterday formally identified at the Mato'otua Hospital morgue in Apia by their dental records. Their parents will accompany their bodies back to New Zealand this week.
The bodies were found within two days of each other at least 200m from the beach fale they were staying in with their cousin, Hamilton travel agent Jodi McGlashan, and her friend Olivia Loeffen.
Petria was a first-year teacher at Rototuna Primary School in Hamilton while her sister was a team leader and lifeguard at Matamata's sports centre.
Their parents will this morning hold a press conference at the New Zealand High Commission in Apia.
An Australian couple passing by yesterday spotted the hugging group and stopped to show them photos on their digital camera they'd taken two days before the tsunami of what the resort used to look like.
The images are a far cry from what's left. The only clue that the spot used to house a popular tourist attraction is the resort's sign, found hundreds of metres away, that the Taufua family have erected on a post.
Keisha Brown, who lives on Phillip Island in Victoria, said she had exchanged details with the Martins and they had asked her to email the photos to them.
"I think we came along at the right time. The place looks nothing like it did, it's very unrecognisable."
The 20-year-old and her boyfriend had left the resort two days before and were in bed at a hotel in Apia when the earthquake struck.
"It shook the whole place. It was like the earth was a bouncy ball."
Miss Brown and her partner, who have been helping the Red Cross, packed 12 people into their rental jeep and headed for higher ground.
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
