A book telling the stories of 180 tsunami survivors in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga was launched recently.
Pacific Tsunami-Galu Afi was compiled by author Lani Wendt Young of Samoa.
She says she had promised a mother she had interviewed following last year's disasters to share with others her story.
Lani Wendt Young read an excerpt of the mother's story at the launch of her book.
"The mother explained to me, all the houses in our village were ruined, everyone had gone to stay with their families in other villages, but we were the only ones that stayed here that night because I wanted my daughter to come home . I told my husband to make a really big fire so that she could see her way home, so that she would not be scared and in the dark. Hope burned that night for as a family waited for a daughter who did not return. Her body was found the next morning, in the mangroves, by Robert Toelupe, and tenderly carried to her mother's waiting arms."
The book was the vision of Samoa's former Associate Minister of tourism Hans Joachim Keil.
The book will also be launched in New Zealand and Australia later this month.
