Disaster in Indonesia and Samoa

A series of earthquakes hit Indonesia Wednesday night and Tuesday morning. The port city of Padang was hit especially hard with hundreds of building crashing to the ground trapping victims under tons of rubble.

The first quake registered as a 7.6 on the Richter scale. The second quake hitting less than 12 hours later regitered as a 6.6. At least 530 people have been declared deceased since the first tremors hit.

American Samoa was also effected by natural disaster yesterday. An underwater earthquake registering an 8.0 sent tsunamis crashing into American Samoa, Samoa and the island of Tonga. President Obama declared American Samoa as an area of major disaster.

These two events were not directly caused by the same natural occurrence.

With the death toll speculated to drastically rise as relief efforts reach more and more areas of devastation, relief effrots are greatly needed.

The Red Cross is collecting donations on its Web site, as is as Oxfam New Zealand.