Aveao Faausu Fonoti, Mayor of Amanave, shows the bullhorn he used on the morning of September 29, 2009 to notify the residents of his village in American Samoa. He had attended a workshop sponsored by the
Samoan Affairs Office for mayors about
tsunamis only a few weeks beforehand and
remembered that ground shaking was a
natural warning. He ran through the village
blowing the bullhorn and alerting residents
to the danger. Although 80% of
the buildings in his village were destroyed,
no one died and no one was seriously injured.
Shaky Ground: Hero Mayor
