- 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.
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.”
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.