PAGO PAGO, American Samoa — For Faauluuluga Leota, a nurse who also serves in the U.S. Army Reserve, it is hard to find the words.

Her family has been staying in the small church hall at All Peoples Pentecostal Church since the earthquake and tsunami flushed through the bay. She can see, just down the steep hillside, the rubble that was her home.

"Total loss," she said. "At least we're all alive, as well as our children. We're going to try to get our lives back together, start from scratch, since we don't have anything.

"It's hard. Words can't explain how we feel, emotionally and mentally. We have to be strong, especially for our kids."

Across the island, more than 2,000 people are staying in 17 temporary shelters, according to Betty Ah Soon, the public information officer for American Samoa's homeland security office. Hundreds more are staying with family or friends or at informal shelters like the All Peoples church hall.

Many of the shelters are largely empty during the day, as people try to clean up their homes and businesses and wait for disaster relief officials to assess damage.

Assembly of God Church, on the hillside overlooking the capital, is operating two shelters, serving about 500 people. Utaifeau Milton Taufa'asau, a village leader, said the challenge has been coordinating relief supplies with spotty telephone and cell phone service.

Yesterday morning, he said, was the first time the church was able to get food delivered for the needy, a breakfast of scrambled eggs, hash browns, diced peaches and toast from the territory's school lunch program.

"It's the miscommunication, that's the biggest challenge," Taufa'asau said. "It doesn't help with our network being jammed. Everyone is on the phone calling to check on family. People are calling from off-island, worried.

"But we're very grateful that we're getting all of this help."

MORE BODIES

At least 176 people were killed in American Samoa, neighboring Samoa and Tonga when tsunami waves roared ashore after an earthquake with a magnitude of up to 8.3 in the Pacific Ocean.

Also, an Associated Press photographer yesterday reported seeing a body pulled from rubble at the devastated Samoan village of Lalomanu that apparently wasn't listed in the official death toll.

The Associated Press also reported that Ken Tingman, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's federal coordinating officer, said electricity and water services have been restored in about half of the affected villages in Samoa and American Samoa, and that almost all of the territory was expected to have power from generators within three to five days.

CHURCHES ACTIVE

Many of the shelters are at churches, the foundation of life in the villages. American Samoa Gov. Togiola Tulafono has asked disaster relief workers to suspend recovery operations today out of respect for people attending worship on the first Sunday after the disaster.

"I think we need that so that people have time to reflect and to worship," the governor said.

This afternoon, the National Council of Churches will host a special prayer service, the governor said, to "thank God for sparing a lot of people. It could have been worse for us. But things turned out much better than we expected it might be."

Filigata Leota Tarrant, the wife of the minister at All Peoples, where six families are staying, said many people who experienced the earthquake or saw the tsunami crash through the bay remain terrified.

One elderly woman, she said, had a heart attack from the stress of the experience. Some children are afraid to go outside and play.

"Even inside the house sometimes, they think the house is shaking, but it's not," she said.

'WE'LL PULL THROUGH'

But there are signs, even in the neighborhoods hit hardest, that the rituals of life are snapping back into place. Next door to All Peoples, children practiced songs in preparation for White Sunday next week, the day churches honor children.

Leota, the nurse, said it is important for families to stick together. "With the help of our families, we'll pull through," she said.

Her family is counting on one blessing: Leota's sister-in-law, Lucille Leota, is expecting her second child. She is scheduled to have a cesarean section today.

"It's a boy," Lucille Leota said, glowing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.