As a naked 84-year-old Lemafa Atia'e clung for his life to a post from his neighbour's house while waves crashed over him, he was not afraid.
The oldest person living in the tiny village of Utulaelae, on the southeast coast of Upolu, had sat in his waterfront fale as the earthquake shook while his family begged him to follow them to higher ground.
But Mr Atia'e, who uses a piece of timber to help him walk, knew his brittle bones would prevent him from escaping a tsunami.
Within minutes, he was swept more than 150m from his home, hitting a power pole and a grapefruit tree before his journey was broken by the steel house post, to which he clung as the sea and bits of debris knocked him around and ripped off his lavalava, the only piece of clothing he had on.
After the waves had passed over the village, two of Mr Atia'e's sons came back down the hill to look for their father, wrapped another lavalava around him and carried him to the bush to seek refuge.
He managed to escape with only a few cuts and bruises.
Mr Atia'e, who only speaks Samoan, said through his next-door neighbour, Eva Tupusela: "I wasn't afraid, but I was shocked at what the water could do."
Mrs Tupusela, the wife of the village pastor for the local Methodist church, said that when the earth started to shake she and others pleaded with Mr Atia'e to move.
"We were yelling at him `Go up'. His family was saying `Go up', but he just sat there. He didn't move.
"The wave carried him."
Mrs Tupusela, whose home was destroyed, said she knew a tsunami would follow the earthquake, so as soon as the ground started shaking her and her husband gathered their two young children and drove up the hill, picking up two elderly women on the way.