Leone, American Samoa ? The village of Leone is a picturesque enclave that has been a mainstay of the Samoas for centuries, a place where residents gather under beach meeting houses for rituals that are sacred to the local culture.

Today, the village is a bleak landscape of rubble.

An overturned van is sticking into the roof of one of the beach houses. Four elderly villagers were swept out to sea while gathered on the shore to weave Samoan mats and artifacts. A 6-year-old girl is feared dead. The post office is gone, so is the grocery store.

The carnage in hard-hit Leone offers a glimpse into how this week’s deadly earthquake and tsunami in Samoa and American Samoa decimated centuries of culture on two islands that are steeped in tradition.

Samoans have been forced to forgo burial rituals because their villages are gone. Some bodies were discovered in such decomposed states that they couldn’t be buried according to proper Samoan custom. The beach gathering spots, known as fale, were overrun by the tsunami.

“We need these guesthouses to be put back. This is our meeting house,” territorial Rep. Vaiausia Yandall said.

The death toll from Tuesday’s disaster rose to 170, including 129 in Samoa, 32 in American Samoa and nine in Tonga, as the relief effort entered its fourth day Friday. Medical teams gave tetanus shots and antibiotics to survivors with infected wounds, and survivors wore face masks to reduce the stench of rot.