Niuatoputapu Tsunami (Tongan Survivor Accounts)

In January 2010, the Tonga Broadcasting Commission sent a television crew to Niuatoputapu to interview the survivors of the September 2009 tsunami in Samoa Islands Region. The documentary team interviewed over 50 people, and  took along an artist, Soakimi Maka Finau, who drew 31 sketches from the survivors’ descriptions of the tsunami. The one-hour documentary called “Niuatoputapu after the Tsunami of 2009”, was broadcast by Television Tonga in March 2010.

This book is based on the documentary, along with three other interviews recorded on October 3, 2010, at the Vaiola Hospital in Nuku‘alofa, where several injured survivors had been evacuated for treatment. It also includes photographs and diagrams.

Download English version here.

Download Tongan version here.