New photos reveal the extent of the damage to the group of islands.
Communications from the Tonga have been hindered for many reasons including a damaged undersea cable
The following written content from British Broadcasting
They show the Pacific islands blanketed in a layer of volcanic ash, while in coastal areas the waves have torn down trees and ripped buildings apart.
Saturday’s tsunami left at least three dead – including a British national – and crippled communications.
International phone links are said to have been restored but a severed undersea cable may take weeks to fix.
That means Tonga remains largely cut off from the outside world, with little known about the scale of destruction.
But the new images, released by Tonga’s consulate in the EU, show cars, roads and buildings in the capital Nuku’alofa coated in a film of ash. The dust has hampered relief planes from landing and delivering much-needed food and drinking water.
The pictures also show the aftermath of the tsunami waves, described by Tonga’s government as “an unprecedented disaster”, on coastal areas on the island. Debris is scattered across the shoreline, after waves more than a meter tall struck on Tonga.
Aerial images taken by the New Zealand Air Force, meanwhile, indicate that several villages have been wiped out on islands that have yet to be reached.
Teams have been working around the clock to get vital supplies to the region and repair the damaged undersea cable.
Efforts to clear thick ash from Tonga’s main airport runway finished on Wednesday, AFP news agency reports, after rescue teams and hundreds of volunteers desperately worked to clear dust from the tarmac using wheelbarrows and shovels.
Officials hoped to have emergency aid flights landing soon.
Scant communication has been established since the eruption, enabled only through a few satellite phones mainly held by foreign embassies in the capital city Nuku’alofa. Many Tongans abroad have since been waiting to hear news from loved ones.
Telecom firm Digicel said on Wednesday that it had managed to restore international calls, though the BBC has not been able to able to reach numbers in Tonga.
Full connectivity – including the internet – could take four weeks or more to restore after the sole cable to the islands was damaged in two places.
Settlements on Tonga no longer visible after eruption Read more from BBC
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On Wednesday morning, the Red Cross said it had “joyfully and happily” been able to make contact with its team in Tonga for the first time since the eruption.
“Unfortunately there is devastating news from Tonga overnight with the loss and destruction of homes,” its Pacific Head of Delegation Katie Greenwood told the BBC’s Newsday programme.
Ms Greenwood added that Red Cross teams were working to distribute clean water, and that a recent campaign telling people to cover their rain water tanks to protect them from ash had worked and provided a boost to bottled water supplies.
The following is from January 18th 2022
Getting aid to those who need it
Flights are unable to provide aid to people in the disaster areas of Tonga because aircraft are unable to land while the airport runway is covered in ash
Settlements on Tonga are no longer visible after eruption
Update The following written content from British Broadcasting
New Zealand is sending aid to disaster-struck Tonga, but ash on the capital’s main airport runway is preventing relief planes from landing.
It will also take days before military ships with supplies will reach the islands, said New Zealand authorities.
Fears of a possible humanitarian crisis developing on Tonga are growing after Saturday’s massive volcano eruption.
It sparked a tsunami and severed an undersea cable, cutting off the country from the outside world.
New Zealand and Australia have done surveillance flights to assess the damage.
On Tuesday New Zealand foreign affairs minister Nanaia Mahuta said a C-130 Hercules aircraft was on standby to fly to Tonga to deliver humanitarian aid including collapsible water containers, generators and hygiene kits.
“However images show ashfall on the Nuku’alofa airport runway that must be cleared before (the plane) can land,” she said.
Ms Mahuta added two navy ships carrying water supplies, disaster relief stores, and a rescue helicopter will be dispatched to Tonga. However the ships are expected to take three days to arrive.
Alexander Matheou, the Red Cross’s regional director, said it was likely that volcanic dust and the tsunami had contaminated Tonga’s water supplies.
“One of the greatest needs is to provide water purification and clean drinking water,” Mr Matheou said.
A distress signal has been detected from two small, isolated Tongan islands, according to the UN.
But the Red Cross has said reports suggested the overall damage was not as bad as had been feared.
“We believe that from the information that we can put together that it is not as catastrophic in those major population centres as we first thought that it might be, so that’s really good news,” said Katie Greenwood, who is co-ordinating the organisation’s response from Fiji.
Communications with the island chain remain extremely limited, making it difficult to establish the scale of the destruction.
Tongans living abroad have been anxiously waiting for news from relatives and loved ones back home, as reports say it may take up to two weeks to restore phone and internet lines.
The Red Cross said even satellite phones, used by many aid agencies, had poor service due to the effects of the ash cloud. The organisation estimates that up to 80,000 people may have been affected by the tsunami. Read more from BBC
At least 2 dead as a result of the Tonga volcano eruption
At least two people are confirmed to have died in Tonga following the undersea volcanic eruption that sent tsunami waves toward the island nation and across the Pacific over the weekend, officials said Monday.
The big picture: Officials reported major damage along the western coast of the main island of Tongatapu, where the capital, Nuku’alofa, was covered in ash and dust, including on the runway of the airport. A New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson told Axios over the phone that two people had been confirmed to have died in the disaster.
These included a British woman reported as missing earlier. Angela Glover’s brother said she had been “swept away by the tsunami” in Tonga while trying to save her dogs, per the BBC.
The Australian and New Zealand defense forces have deployed surveillance aircraft to the region, but officials report that the damage is making relief efforts difficult.
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Meanwhile, communications to Tonga have been largely cut off after an undersea cable was damaged in the disaster.
What they’re saying: Australia’s Minister for the Pacific Zed Seselja told local media there was “significant damage” to the region, including to vacation resorts. Read more from Axios
The volcanic explosion aftermath has even effected the US Pacific Coast
The following written content from Samantha Riddle
Tsunami warnings were issued for the entire US West Coast following a major volcanic eruption across the Pacific Ocean in Tonga. Tsunami waves have triggered low-level flooding as far as Hawaii.
The US National Weather Service responded to the event by issuing tsunami warnings from the bottom of California to the tip of Alaska’s Aleutian islands. Authorities predicted waves of up to a metre, strong rip currents and coastal flooding.
“Move off the beach and out of harbors and marinas in these areas,”
Volcanic explosion and warnings
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center cautioned that a tsunami is ‘currently being observed’ in Hawaii but that at the time there was no reported damage and only minor flooding throughout the islands.
In the aftermath of the eruptions Tongans fled to higher ground with a four-foot wave observed in Tonga’s capital, Nuku’alofa.
Furthermore, the eruption prompted tsunami warnings being issued throughout the Pacific. The countries included New Zealand, Fiji, Vanuatu and even Australia. Reports of tsunami waves as far as Japan have also surfaced.
The most recent eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano lasted eight minutes and propelled gas, ash and smoke several kilometres into the air.
This just hours following a separate tsunami warning being lifted after an earlier eruption. It came just a few hours after a separate Friday tsunami warning was lifted due to a previous eruption.
How has Tonga been effected by the volcanic explosion?
Footage of the aftermath includes people scrambling to reach safety as large waves hit the shores of nearby coasts. Additionally, video clips of ash blocking out the sun in nearby Tonga.
However, New Zealand’s National Management Agency, over 1 000 kilometers away, has warned citizens against “strong and unusual currents and unpredictable surges at the shore as a result of the eruption.”
The danger puts swimmers, surfers, people fishing and small boats at risk with people near the ocean cautioned to move further inland. Officials warned of a danger to “swimmers, surfers, people fishing, small boats” and people near the ocean should move inland.
Satellite images of the eruption have quickly gone viral, a spectacle from as far as outer space. Thankfully, no casualties or injuries have been reported thus far. Read more from ScienceAlert
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Tonga makes up more than 170 South Pacific islands
How has the United States Pacific Coast been effected by the volcanic explosion
The following written content by Jan Wesner Childs
Waves between 1 and 4 feet were reported from California to Alaska Saturday after a tsunami advisory was issued because of a volcanic eruption in the South Pacific.
The advisory was issued for Hawaii and the U.S. Pacific Coast including California, Oregon, Washington and parts of Alaska early Saturday morning after the undersea volcano erupted near the island nation of Tonga.
A wave of 4.3 feet was reported in Port San Luis California, according to the National Weather Service. Large waves were also reported in King Cove, Alaska, La Push, Washington, and several other locations.
Two people were transported to the hospital after being swept into the water Saturday afternoon at San Gregorio State Beach, according to local fire officials. One was taken by helicopter.
The National Weather Service had warned that potentially dangerous waves of hard-to-identify surging water could occur throughout the day.
“The arriving tsunami will come in pulses of surging water levels onto and off of the coast, similar to ‘high tide.’ Do not expect to identify these arriving pulses by large cresting waves/surf,” the NWS Bay Area office tweeted. “These water level surges can overwhelm and overtake people and pull them out to sea.”
People were advised to avoid beaches, harbors and marinas and to pay close attention to local forecasts. In some areas, emergency officials are telling people to leave beaches immediately.
Across the Pacific, evacuations were ordered in parts of Japan, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun. The newspaper, citing local emergency officials, reported that some 153,000 people were told to leave their homes in coastal areas.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said early Saturday morning that waves and fluctuations in sea level were expected to start in Alaska around 6:15 a.m. local time. The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services said waves could arrive in some coastal areas around 7 a.m. PST with a peak of about 1 to 2 feet. Waves were possible in the San Francisco area around 8 a.m., according to the tsunami warning center.
In Japan, the country’s meteorological agency warned that a wave up to about 9 feet high could hit the Amami and Tokara islands, part of the Ryukyu chain southwest of mainland Japan. Local news reports said evacuations were issued in some areas. The chain also includes Okinawa, home to tens of thousands of U.S. military personnel. An advisory was issued there with waves up to 3 feet possible.
Waves of about 1 foot to over 2 feet slammed ashore in some areas of Hawaii.
The tsunami also reportedly pushed boats out of the water and onto docks in the state. Read more from T.W.C.
