প্রকাশ: 18/01/2022
Significant damage was reported along the western coast of
Tonga's main island and outer islands on Tuesday following a massive volcanic
eruption and tsunami, but a closed airport and downed communications are
hampering international relief efforts.
The New Zealand High Commission reported the damage along
the western coast of the main island of Tongatapu, where there are many
vacation resorts, and the waterfront of the capital Nuku'alofa.
The Ha'atafu Beach Resort on the Hihifo peninsula, 21 km (13
miles) west of Nuku'alofa, was "completely wiped out", the owners
said on Facebook.
Australia's Minister for the Pacific Zed Seselja said Tongan
officials were planning to evacuate people from outer islands where
"they're doing it very tough, we understand, with many houses being
destroyed in the tsunami".
The eruption of Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano, which
sits on the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire, sent tsunami waves across
the Pacific Ocean and was heard some 2,300 kms (1,430 miles) away in New
Zealand.
The South Pacific archipelago has remained largely cut off
from the world since the eruption which cut its main undersea communications
cable.
A thick layer of ash blankets the entire island, the High
Commission said, adding it was working to establish communications with smaller
islands "as a matter of priority".
British national Angela Glover, 50, was killed in the
tsunami as she tried to rescue the dogs she looked after at a rescue shelter,
her brother said, the first known death from the disaster.
There are no official reports of injuries or deaths yet but
internet and telephone communications are extremely limited and outlying
coastal areas remain cut off.
"We don't have any further information that would
suggest ... significant casualties, although, as you would appreciate,
information is still relatively patchy," Seselja told Nine's Today show on
Tuesday.
"The priority now will to be get supplies to Tonga, and
the biggest constraint on that at the moment ... is the airport. There is still
a significant amount of ash," he said.
The airport was now more likely to be open by Wednesday, he
said.
Tonga's deputy head of mission in Australia, Curtis
Tu'ihalangingie, said Tonga was concerned that aid deliveries could spread
Covid-19 to the Covid-free nation.
"We don't want to bring in another wave - a tsunami of
Covid-19," Tu'ihalangingie told Reuters by telephone, urging the public to
wait for a disaster relief fund to donate.
Any aid sent to Tonga would need to be quarantined, and it
was likely no foreign personnel would be allowed to disembark aircraft, he
said.
The Red Cross said it was mobilising its network to respond
to what it called the worst volcanic eruption the Pacific has experienced in
decades.
Alexander Matheou, the Red Cross' Asia Pacific director,
said water purification to remove ash contamination, providing shelter and
reuniting families were the priorities.
DISTRESS SIGNAL
The United Nations said a distress signal was detected in an
isolated, low-lying Ha'apai islands group, adding it had particular concerns
about Fonoi and Mango islands. According to the Tonga government, 36 people
live on Mango and 69 on Fonoi.
A satellite image posted by the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) indicated there was damage to
scores of structures on Nomuka island.
"Further volcanic activity cannot be ruled out,"
OCHA said, reporting only minor injuries but emphasising that formal
assessments, especially of the outer islands, had yet to be determined.
The impact of the huge eruption was felt as far away as
Fiji, New Zealand, the United States and Japan. Two people drowned off a beach
in northern Peru due to high waves caused by the tsunami, while officials in
Japan reported several evacuations.
The island of Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai all but disappeared
following the blast, according to satellite images from around 12 hours later,
making it difficult for volcanologists to monitor ongoing activity. Experts
said the volcano, which last erupted in 2014, had been puffing away for about a
month before Saturday's eruption.
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