Sydney, Jan. 18 (BNA): The small, remote islands of Tonga were badly damaged by a massive volcanic eruption and tsunami.
Tonga police told New Zealand’s High Commission that the confirmed death toll had reached two, but with communications cut off in the South Pacific island nation, it was not clear the true extent of the casualties, Reuters reported.
Tonga’s main airport, Foa Amoto International Airport, was not damaged in the volcanic eruption and tsunami on Saturday, but thick ash is preventing full operations, hampering international relief efforts.
Australia’s Pacific Minister Zed Siselja said: “The priority now will be getting supplies to Tonga, and the biggest constraint on that at the moment… is the airport. There is still a significant amount of ash.”
Siselga said Tonga officials were planning to evacuate people from the outer islands where conditions were “extremely difficult, we understand, with many homes destroyed in the tsunami.”
The United Nations said a distress signal had been detected in the Low and Low Ha’apai Islands group, adding that it had particular concerns about Funui and Mango islands. According to the government of Tonga, 36 people live in Mango and 69 people live in Funui.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that the Tongan Navy reported significant damage in the Hapae Islands, which were hit by waves 5-10 meters (15-30 feet) high.
Surveillance photos taken by the New Zealand Defense Forces and posted on social media in Tonga showed “catastrophic damage” to the remote island of Atata.
Damage ranged from extensive to catastrophic, with an entire village in Mango destroyed, Vonuevoa, Niniva, Nomoka and Mango.
Tonga is a kingdom consisting of 176 islands, 36 of which are inhabited, with a population of 104,494.
Hengja Tonga-Hung Hapai volcano is located on the seismically active Ring of Fire in the Pacific Ocean, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) north of the capital city of Tonga.
The eruption sent a tsunami across the Pacific Ocean and was heard about 2,300 kilometers (1,430 miles) away in New Zealand.
The South Pacific archipelago has been largely cut off from the world since the explosion that cut a major undersea communications cable.
New Zealand’s High Commission said a thick layer of ash was covering the islands, adding that it was working to establish contacts with smaller islands “as a matter of priority”.
British national Angela Glover, 50, died in the tsunami while trying to rescue the dogs she was caring for at a rescue shelter, her brother said, the first known death in the disaster.
“We don’t have any other information that indicates significant losses,” Cecilga told Australia’s Nine Today channel.
He said the airport will likely open on Wednesday.
Tonga’s deputy chief of mission in Australia, Curtis Tuyalangenge, said Tonga was concerned that aid delivery could spread COVID-19 to the COVID-free country.
“We don’t want to bring in another wave … the COVID-19 tsunami,” Tuihalangenji told Reuters by phone, urging the public to wait for the relief fund donation.
He said any aid sent to Tonga should be quarantined, and it is likely that no foreign staff will be allowed to disembark from planes.
The Red Cross said it was mobilizing its network to respond What he called the worst volcanic eruption that occurred in the Pacific Ocean
Experienced in decades.
Alexandre Mathew, director of the Asia Pacific region for the Red Cross, said water purification to remove ash pollution, provide shelter and reunite families were priorities.
“Further volcanic activity cannot be ruled out,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
The impact of the huge eruption was being felt as far away as the United States. Two people drowned off a beach in Peru due to the rising waves caused by the tsunami, while officials in Japan reported several evacuations.
Hangunga-Tonga-Hong-Hapae Island disappeared after the eruption, according to satellite images taken about 12 hours later, making it difficult for volcanologists to monitor activity.
Experts said the volcano, which last erupted in 2014, had been erupting for about a month before the eruption on Saturday.
MI