Residents of Manono-tai and Manono-uta have expressed concerns at the impact of recent king tides which hit their coastline on Thursday evening at around 11pm. 

The local residents were particularly concerned with their wharf at Manono-uta, which they claimed had been partially damaged by massive waves that were triggered by the king tides. 

One village Auapaau Tofa, who helps to look after the wharf, told the Samoa Observer on Saturday that the force of the waves threw up all the rocks onto the land.

"It [waves] dug up all the rocks from the shore and carried them onto the families' land," he said in an interview.

Due to the impact of the king tides, Mr Tofa said portions of the land that previously supported the wharf were washed away by the waves overnight.  

The wharf was only built in August last year under a Samoa–Japan Governments partnership to improve transportation for Manono Island residents. 

A lot of villagers expressed concern that the waves were getting bigger and they wanted to know from the authorities what can be done to save their wharf from being completely destroyed. 

Another resident, Leiataualesa Kilali Alailima, appealed to the authorities to assist and by building seawalls that can minimise the impact of the waves.

"There is an urgent need to do something about this, with what is happening now, the sea is slowly eating away at our lands and putting our people in harm’s way," Leiataualesa said. 

"It looks like these waves are going to happen often and we would like to ask the Government for help." 

According to the resident, there was an urgent need for a seawall or a barrier to protect the shore from erosion and act as a breakwater.

Another Manono-tai resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the waves are already impacting the foundation of the women's committee house.

"The wave was coming and I could see it building up as it was making its way inland and hitting on to the women's committee house," the resident said. 

"I could hear things breaking inside as the waves entered in to the house."