More ships and aircraft carrying aid are due to arrive in Tonga in the next few days as the international community answers calls for assistance from the Pacific island nation following a devastating volcanic eruption and tsunami.
The Hunga Ton-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted last Saturday, thrusting ash 100,000 feet into the sky and triggering waves of tsunamis that destroyed villages, resorts and severed communications for Tonga’s 105,000 inhabitants.
Telephone links between Tonga and the outside world were reconnected late on Wednesday, although restoring full internet service is likely to take over a month.
The force of the eruption was estimated by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center as being equivalent of five to ten megatons of TNT - or more than 500 times that of the nuclear bomb dropped by the United States on Hiroshima at the end of the Second World War.
At least three deaths have been officially reported so far, although the true extent of the casualties cannot be immediately determined due to the limited communication and challenges in accessing some of the affected areas.
According to Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for the United Nations, some 60,000 people have been impacted by damage to livestock, crops, and fisheries resulting from the ashfall, saltwater intrusion, and the potential for acid rain caused by the eruption. Much of the drinking water has also been spoiled and there have been reports of fuel shortages across the country.
The international community began to respond a few days ago —with the first flights from Australia and New Zealand landing in Tonga on Thursday— carrying power generators, shelter, water sanitation, hygiene, and communication equipment. The HMNZS Aotearoa, a New Zealand maritime sustained vessel, arrived on Friday with 250,000 liters of water and is able to produce an additional 70,000 liters a day through a desalination plant.
More aircraft and ships carrying aid are set to arrive in the coming days from Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. Australia’s foreign minister Marise Payne said on Friday that cash donations to Tonga for immediate humanitarian supplies – Australia has donated $1m – would need to be followed with more substantial support for rebuilding.
Writer: Ainhoa Petri-Hidalgo
Photo Credits: Tonga Geological Services