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Article: Redlands police officer sent to help in American Samoa
- Article from:
- Redlands Daily Facts
- Article date:
- October 12, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2009 Redlands Daily Facts. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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When Redlands Police Officer Rodney Walters arrived in American
Samoa, he discovered things were not as bad as he had heard.
Walters, a volunteer with the federal Region Disaster Mortuary
Operational Response Team, was deployed to help recover bodies in
the aftermath of a tsunami that hit the Samoas on Sept. 29.
A day later, he was sent to serve as acting commander of a team
sent to disaster scenes where there are mass fatalities.
"This one came up suddenly," he said.
The death toll was originally reported up to the hundreds for
American Samoa, which was more than the death toll for all three
Samoan islands, Walters said.
"That word didn't get back to us until we were already down
there," he ...