Tonga Islands: the damage is “considerable” after the volcanic eruption – franceinfo

The worst is to be feared after the powerful volcanic eruption in the Tonga Islands. The international agencies responsible for assessing the damage caused reported on Tuesday, January 18, “considerable damage”. “From what little information we have, the scale of devastation could be immense, especially in the most isolated islands.”said Katie Greenwood of the International Federation of the Red Cross.

The first estimates of the scale of the crisis were transmitted by satellite telephone or established thanks to reconnaissance flights over a country cut off from the Internet network after the rupture of a cable. No human toll has been revealed but the body of a Briton swept away by a wave of tsunami has been found, her family announced. At least one other person is missing in the archipelago.

The first confirmed victim is a 50-year-old woman, Angela Gover, who went out for a run with her dog and went missing shortly after the tidal wave. “Today my family sadly learned that my sister Angela’s body has been found., told his brother Nick Eleini in the columns of the Guardian (in English). James was able to hang on to a tree for quite a long time, but Angela couldn’t do the same and was swept away with the dog.”

Australia and New Zealand, which sent Orion reconnaissance jets over Tonga the day before, have aid ships ready for deployment. The capital Nuku’alofa was covered with two centimeters of ash and volcanic dust, describes the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs of the United Nations (OCHA) in an emergency report. Electricity has been restored in some areas of the city. The local telephone network is also restored, but international communications are interrupted. Rocks and debris were also swept inland by the tsunami, damaging the Nuku’alofa waterfront.

Due to the risk of pollution by volcanic residues, water should be a priority, believes the New Zealand Minister of Defense. France, “neighbor of the Kingdom of Tonga” via the overseas collectivity of Wallis-and-Futuna, said “ready to meet the most urgent needs of the population”, according to a press release.