The International Federation of the Red Cross indicated on social media that its teams in Tonga are already on the ground.
Tonga suffers “significant damage” after the tsunami caused the day before by a volcanic eruption, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Sunday, although there is still no information on victims.
Communication connections with Tonga, an archipelago of more than 170 islands and some 105,000 inhabitants settled in the South Pacific, are limited because the tsunami damaged submarine communication cables and caused power outages, said the New Zealand president, who has collected information from officials of his country in Tonga.
Official portals and profiles on social networks of government departments have not updated the situation for more than 24 hours, when, according to the Netblocks observatory, the internet connection was completely cut off.
Since the violent eruption of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai submarine volcano, which lasted about eight minutes and could be seen from space, recorded at around 17:20 (local time) on Saturday, news from Tonga is scarce.
The giant waves ferociously hit the northern coast of the Tongan island of Tongatapu, whose maximum elevation does not reach 30 meters above sea level, in a matter of minutes.
The Australian Meteorological Service said that “waves of about 1.2 meters” hit Nuku’alofa, the capital of Tonga, with a population of 24,500, about 65 kilometers south of the volcano.
“Nuku’alofa is covered in a thick layer of volcanic ash, but (current) conditions are calm and stable,” Ardern said after speaking to New Zealand representatives in Tonga, reportedly via satellite phones.
A New Zealand Army P3 Orion reconnaissance plane will take off “once weather conditions allow” to help assess the consequences of the tsunami in Tonga, and they are also preparing to send Navy ships on humanitarian tasks.
The International Federation of the Red Cross indicated on social networks that its teams in Tonga are already on the ground and have “enough supplies in the country to support 1,200 households”.
One of the great concerns is that the already scarce drinking water aquifers could be contaminated by the constant rain of ash, which in turn could cause respiratory problems among the population.
Alert for the entire Pacific
The thunderous eruption of Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai, an underwater volcano with a long history of activity and located between two islets – which are sometimes joined by the ash accumulated between them – could be heard hundreds of kilometers away.
Other neighboring Pacific nations such as Fiji, Vanuatu and Samoa also recorded the onslaught of waves up to two meters high and, after canceling the alert, they still maintain an emergency warning over coastal areas.
“Due to the unpredictable nature of this event, the public is advised to take extra precautions when attending coastal activities until further notice,” the Samoa Meteorological Service said in its latest update.
Unlike tsunamis triggered by earthquakes, where tectonic plates unload their force and a second tsunami is unlikely, the volcano could again register a violent eruption that would create another ferocious tidal wave.
The explosion and subsequent tsunami produced strong waves and flooding as far away as the US state of California, 8,000 kilometers from the volcano, and the coasts of Chile, Japan and Australia. (I)
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