POLOA, American Samoa — Itai Lilo only had a few moments after the earth shook to decide what he was going to do.

Neighbors in his tiny village on the western coast were evacuating, fearful a tsunami might follow the earthquake, but Lilo waited until the first of three mammoth waves decided for him.

"I barely made it," he said of his dash up the mountain, his arms bruised from the struggle. "We had nowhere to run. It was like a nightmare."

Yesterday, the death toll in the Samoas from Tuesday's earthquake and tsunami rose to 169 — 129 in Samoa, 31 in American Samoa and nine in Tonga.

Lilo, a former truck driver for United Fishing Co. in Honolulu who used to live in Kalihi, moved back home a decade ago to care for his ailing father, who has since died.

Yesterday afternoon, he sat under a makeshift shelter in the heap that was his house. His black Hyundai, the one with the newly repaired transmission, was flipped over on its side a few feet away. His green Ford Ranger was upside down on the beach.

"Everything," Lilo said. "We lost our car. We lost our house. We lost our ... everything. Nothing. This is ground zero. All we get is debris.

"We're lucky we found some clothes around to wear. When I got hit, I don't even have slippers or nothing. I had to grab some clothes around to wear. Even the shirt I'm wearing is not mine."

Most of the homes here along the jagged, remote shoreline were destroyed. Smoke seeped from the rubble. Stray dogs picked through trash looking for treats. A plastic doll's head, torn from the body, was lying in the street.

The only building left erect was the church, its white and gold-trimmed exterior masking a mess of broken glass and splintered pews inside. A welcome sign, painted in red out front, read: "Le Faitota O Le Malamalama (The door to the light)."

MASS FUNERAL

Convoys of military vehicles brought food, water and medicine to the tsunami-stricken Samoas yesterday.

Grim-faced islanders gathered under a traditional meetinghouse to hear a Samoan government minister discuss a plan for a mass funeral and burial on Tuesday. Samoans traditionally bury their loved ones near their homes, but that could be impractical because many of their villages have been wiped out.

Doctors and nurses were sent to devastated villages, and a refrigerated freight container was being used as a temporary morgue for the scores of bodies showing up at a Samoan hospital.

Power in Pago Pago — the capital of American Samoa — was expected to be out in some areas for up to a month, and officials said some 2,200 people were in seven shelters across the island.

The United States, Australia and New Zealand sent in supplies and troops, including a U.S. Navy frigate carrying two helicopters that will be used in search-and-rescue efforts. The Hawai'i Air National Guard and U.S. Air Force flew three cargo planes to American Samoa that carried 100 Navy and Army guard personnel and reservists.

In nearby Tonga, National Disaster Management Office deputy director Alfred Soakai said 90 percent of the buildings on the northern island of Niuas had been washed away in the tsunami, the local hospital has been destroyed and much of the island's infrastructure wrecked.

BATTERED VILLAGES

Villages up and down the western edge of the island were battered. Many residents who evacuated have returned to find their houses flattened or uninhabitable.

Several people interviewed yesterday said they were waiting for disaster relief workers to come by and survey the damage. Many are staying with friends or relatives at night.

"Do you know how long it will take for the tent to get here?" asked Fa'atea Etuale, who lost two houses on the waterfront in Amanave but was determined to stay.

"All the furniture, everything, it's gone," he said, pointing to his house, where only the faded red and white foundation remained. "Nothing is left."

Del. Eni Faleomavaega, D-American Samoa, was out inspecting the damage on the west side, taking photographs along the way. He said he spoke with President Obama yesterday morning and said the president extended his sympathies to victims and their families.

Despite the destruction, the sense of loss, people here have their spirit.

"As you probably noticed, we've got more churches than people here," Faleomavaega said. "It's a real strong element inherent in the Samoan culture about spiritual things.

"We accept crisis like this in the sense that, 'That's all we can do,' and we continue believing that the Lord is good, and that we try to put up with whatever that comes our way, and we cope with it."

RELIEF ARRIVES

Early yesterday, volunteers from Hawaiian Airlines and their friends and family locally distributed care packages, bottled water and rice outside of Bank of Hawaii branches in Pago Pago and Leone.

Right before they left their base camp outside Pago Pago International Airport, the volunteers gathered in a circle, held hands and said a prayer in both English and Samoan.

"I just want to thank Him," said Ano Lulu, a Hawaiian Airlines ramp agent who lives in Salt Lake, as he led the prayer. "He didn't take most of our people, just a few."

Maria Kim-Lagafuaina, who is the manager of a review unit for aid at the local Department of Human and Social Services, said she lost a co-worker to the tsunami and still had not heard from several relatives.

"It's emotional for me," she said. "We share the grief with them."