Extent of damage unclear – volcanic eruption off Tonga: international aid has started – News

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  • Two days after the massive eruption of a submarine volcano near the Pacific island nation of Tonga, military aircraft from New Zealand and Australia have surveyed the situation from the air.
  • The extent of the damage in the South Seas archipelago is still unclear.
  • Communications there remain severely compromised, particularly on some of Tonga’s more remote islands, which have not been contacted since the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai eruption.

The Tonga government is sending out ships to assess the situation, Radio New Zealand reported. Tonga has around 170 islands, 36 of which are uninhabited.

Saturday’s eruption could be heard thousands of miles away. A huge cloud of ash had risen for kilometers like a mushroom cloud.

Aid organizations warned of health damage from the ash and advised Tonga residents to wear masks and only drink bottled water.

Further activity of the volcano still unclear

According to experts, the outbreak was the strongest in the world for 30 years. Initial data showed there hadn’t been such a violent eruption since Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991, said volcanologist Shane Cronin of the University of Auckland Radio New Zealand. If the eruption had occurred on land, the effects would have been “apocalyptic,” Cronin said.

It is unclear whether the recent eruption represents the peak of activity. It could also be that the volcano remains restless for several weeks or even years, Cronin continued.

Distant neighboring countries are also on alert


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The eruption triggered tidal waves and put many Pacific countries on alert. Tsunami waves were recorded not only in Tonga, but also in New Zealand, Japan, Alaska and South America. Floods were also reported from Peru, among others, but the situation there normalized again on Sunday (local time), according to media reports. In the meantime, there was a tsunami warning for Easter Island and the coastal region in Chile, which was then lifted again.

The ash plumes triggered by the eruption have now even reached Australia’s east coast, the Weather Watch New Zealand weather service said. The cloud is moving west across Queensland and will cover much of the state during the day, it said. According to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand wants to send a second Hercules machine with important relief supplies to Tonga. Should the airstrip in Tonga’s capital, Nuku’alofa, be damaged, the materials could also be jettisoned, Ardern said.

“Flights conducted today will help us identify where there is a need,” Ardern said. “We know there is an urgent need for water and we hope that the Hercules can launch today to meet that need.”

Australia correspondent Urs Wälterlin on the events


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The New Zealand and Australian Air Forces are very experienced in such situations. The New Zealanders are currently conducting surveillance flights to assess the extent of the destruction. It must be said, however, that for many countries in the South Pacific such situations are not everyday occurrences, but that they are not entirely unprepared either. Flood waves and tsunamis in particular are not frequent, but they do occur again and again. Not least, by the way, also as a result of the rising sea level due to climate change. So the local authorities at least know what they need now and what help to request, including from third countries.

This mountain of fire has been active again since December and experts around the world, but of course above all in the countries bordering the Pacific, are watching with the greatest attention how it will continue to behave. It could take months, even years, for this volcano to remain active and perhaps erupt again. It is difficult for the experts. All they really have to do is observe. A volcanologist from New Zealand once said to me: We can almost always only watch and often not even warn in time, because volcanic eruptions, like earthquakes, cannot actually be predicted.

It is still unclear whether there were dead or injured. As a result of the seaquake, an important undersea cable was also cut, so the Internet in Tonga was down. The other communication links were also disrupted, but mobile phones seemed to be working at least partially, albeit only locally and not internationally.

“It’s a terrible time, but the capital Nuku’alofa is still standing, electricity has been restored in many houses,” said New Zealand’s High Commissioner in Tonga, Peter Lund, on Facebook. The capital lies under a layer of volcanic ash. Cleanups should begin this week.

The submarine volcano, about 65 kilometers from Tonga’s capital, erupted on two days in a row. While only small tsunami waves were registered after the first eruption on Friday, the second eruption on Saturday was also heard in New Zealand and Fiji, 2000 kilometers away. Fiji residents have been urged to cover water tanks and stay indoors in case of ash fall.

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