Two New Zealand Navy ships set sail today loaded with humanitarian aid bound for Tonga.
The Government of Tonga confirmed on Tuesday the death of at least three people from the devastating tsunami caused by a volcanic eruption in this South Pacific archipelago, “an unprecedented disaster,” according to the Executive.
In its first official statement since the natural disaster that occurred on Saturday, the Government describes how the eruption of Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai caused a tsunami with waves up to 15 meters high that hit several islands in the archipelago.
The three confirmed fatalities are a British woman, a 65-year-old woman from Mango Island and a 49-year-old man from Nomuka Island.
The government statement, which was delayed by the cut in communications in the archipelago, describes how the catastrophe caused the destruction of all the houses on Mango Island, while only two were left standing on Fonoifua Island, the two most affected together to Nomuka Island.
The Executive has ordered the deployment of two military ships to bring humanitarian aid to some of the most affected areas in difficult conditions due to the destruction on the coasts and a dense layer of ash that has covered this territory, made up of 169 islands and inhabited by 105,000 people. .
“The water supply has been severely affected by volcanic ash,” the government said.
The aerial images taken this Tuesday by reconnaissance flights of the New Zealand Air Force showed a lunar landscape, where the ash covers the entire terrain and significant damage to the buildings located on the island of Tongacapu, where the capital, Nuku’alofa, is located. .
Other islands such as Uoleva, Nomuka and Uiha show a similar scenario, with severe flooding and accumulation of ash, according to images from the United Nations Satellite Center (UNOSAT).
Two New Zealand Navy ships set sail today loaded with humanitarian aid bound for Tonga, where they are scheduled to arrive this Friday, while Australia has another ship ready with emergency aid, including 250,000 liters of drinking water and a desalination plant. .
The thunderous eruption of Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai, which could be heard hundreds of kilometers away and clearly seen from space, also caused the volcano to disappear from the sea surface. (I)
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