Pago Pago Harbor is a large natural inlet in the central south coast of the island of Tutuila

Tutuila

Tutuila is the largest and the main island of American Samoa in the archipelago of Samoan Islands. It is the third largest island in the Samoan Islands chain of the Central Pacific located roughly northeast of Brisbane, Australia and over northeast of Fiji. It contains a large, natural harbor,...

 in American Samoa

American Samoa

American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the sovereign state of Samoa...

. The capital, Pago Pago is located on the inner reaches of the harbor, close to its northwesternmost point.

A significant amount of debris

Debris

Debris is rubble, wreckage, ruins, litter and discarded garbage/refuse/trash, scattered remains of something destroyed, or, in geology, large rock fragments left by a melting glacier etc. The singular form of debris is debris...

 and oil

Oil

An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....

 were dumped into Pago Pago Harbor in during the 2009 Samoa earthquake

2009 Samoa earthquake

The 2009 Samoa earthquake was an 8.1 Mw submarine earthquake that took place in the Samoan Islands region at 06:48:11 local time on September 29, 2009 . At a magnitude of 8.1, it was the largest earthquake of 2009....

 and ensuing tsunami

Tsunami

A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...

, which devastated communities along the harbor's coastline, including Pago Pago. Debris including cars, household items, and boats were thrown into the into the harbor by the force of the wave. According to the 14-page American Samoan government report, Post-Tsunami Coastal Resource Damage Assessment, "The inner section of Pago Pago Harbor is severely polluted and will require an extensive clean up program with a significant amount of manpower ... The destruction is everywhere."

An oil spill

Oil spill

An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially marine areas, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is mostly used to describe marine oil spills, where oil is released into the ocean or coastal waters...

approximately 40 feet wide occurred at the mouth of Pago Pago Harbor as a result of the tsunami. Barrels containing fuel were thrown into the harbor by the tsunami and washed up on shore.