First death in the Tonga islands, still cut off from the world after an eruption and a tsunami

Published on : 01/18/2022 – 07:24

A first death was confirmed on Tuesday, January 18, in the Tonga Islands after the powerful underwater eruption which caused a tsunami this weekend, the extent of the damage remaining unknown on Tuesday.

The archipelago is deprived of telephone and Internet connections, the cataclysm having severed an essential cable for its communications which should not be repaired for weeks. And the cloud of volcanic ash prevents planes from landing.

News from this country of just 100,000 people, covered in a layer of ash after the eruption that sent shockwaves around the world, is trickling in from rare phones satellite.

>> To read: Tonga deplores significant damage after a tsunami caused by an eruption

A 50-year-old Briton, Angela Glover, swept away by the tsunami in Tonga after trying to rescue dogs from her shelter, has been found dead, her family have told the BBC. She is the first death recorded in the country.

Two women also drowned on Saturday in Peru, carried away by strong waves following the eruption. This South American country was hit by an oil spill on Saturday in the province of Callao, not far from Lima, due to violent swells off the coast linked to the volcanic eruption in Tonga.

The amount of oil spilled was not specified, but authorities said on Monday that the oil spill was now “under control”. According to the Minister of the Environment, Rubén Ramirez, the pollution concerns “about three kilometers” of beaches which have been closed.

Sending military aircraft from New Zealand and Australia

New Zealand and Australia sent military reconnaissance planes on Monday to try to assess the extent of the damage from the air and determine what the most urgent aid needs are, according to the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. “We know water is an immediate need,” she said.

The two countries have also mobilized C-130 military transport planes, ready to take off for Tonga once the ash cloud has dissipated to parachute aid there, or even land there if the state of the runways allows it.

Like many other countries, France, “neighboring the Kingdom of Tonga” via the overseas collectivity of Wallis and Futuna, said it was “ready to meet the most urgent needs of the population”, according to a statement.

The eruption, one of the most powerful in recent decades in the world, was heard as far away as Alaska. It triggered a tsunami that flooded the coasts of the United States to Chile and Japan. Ash and acid rain battered much of the Pacific.

“I think the worst thing is the cut and the fact that we don’t know anything,” said Filipo Motulalo, a Tongan journalist who works in New Zealand for Pacific Media Network. “There is no communication,” he added. “Our house is one of those close to the area that has already been flooded, so we don’t know what the damage is.”

Australia’s Minister for International Development, Zed Seselja, said Australian police stationed in Tonga had sent a “rather worrying” report. “The roads and some houses suffered quite significant damage”, but “one of the good news (…) is that the airport did not suffer any significant damage”, declared the minister.

“The scale of devastation could be immense”

“From what little information we have, the scale of devastation could be immense, especially for the most isolated islands,” said Katie Greenwood of the International Federation of the Red Cross.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has expressed concern for two islands, Mango and Fonoi, after surveillance flights found “extensive property damage” following Saturday’s eruption.

Stunning views taken from space late last week show the timing of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption, on one of Tonga’s uninhabited islands: a huge mushroom of smoke and ash 30 km high , immediately followed by the onset of a tsunami.

1.2 meter waves swept over Nuku’alofa, where residents fled to higher ground, leaving behind flooded homes as rocks and ash fell from the sky.

“The ground shook, the whole house shook. It was coming in waves. My younger brother thought bombs were exploding near our house,” Tongan resident Mere Taufa told the Stuff news site.

With AFP