We’ve poured through the casualty list for Samoa and Tonga. And what we found completedly stopped us in our tracks. Unfortunately we have no official information on those who died in American Samoa because the Governor’s Office refuses to publicly release the casualty list, citing privacy of its citizens. That, despite the fact that SamoaNews (local American Samoa newspaper) has already found and interviewed 22 American Samoa families and reported on their funerals.

We believe the Government of American Samoa is obligated to release the information to its citizens. They are there to represent and uphold the interests of the people. This disaster has highlighted the extent to which the Governor of American Samoa and his office has not served its own people well. But instead has been more concerned with withholding information in a disaster.

This story, the children of the Pacific tsunami, to come later today.