Tsunami-hit Tonga: sending out reconnaissance flights to assess damage – ash cloud covers the island | world News

[ad_1]

Australia and New Zealand sent out reconnaissance flights to assess damage in Tonga after an underwater volcano eruption triggered a tsunami and blanketed the Pacific island in ash.

The volcanic eruption knocked out internet and phone lines on Saturday evening, leaving the islands’ 105,000 residents unable to contact the people of other nations.

Photo: An RAAF P-8 Poseidon flies to Tonga to help assess the extent of the damage

So far, there are no official reports of injuries or deaths in Tonga, but two people drowned off a beach in Peru due to unusually high waves in the wake of the eruption.

The Australian foreign ministry and New Zealand military said they each sent a reconnaissance flight on Monday morning to Tonga to assess the extent of the damage.

Image: This image on the planet Skysat shows a plume of smoke rising from the underwater volcano before it erupted.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has pledged support to Tonga as soon as possible, but said the massive ash cloud covering the island has hampered relief efforts.

“There have been a lot of challenges with the ash cloud disrupting communications so we are working together to get as much support as possible for Tonga,” he told 2GB Radio.

Please use Chrome browser for an accessible video player

1:24 tidal waves hit Tonga

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said communications were limited and so coastal areas outside the Tongan capital, Nuku’alofa, had not been contacted.

Covered in thick plumes of volcanic dust, Nuku’alofa said conditions would be calm and stable otherwise. We have not yet received news from other coastal areas. “

Ardern later said that the main undersea communications cable was affected, likely due to a power outage.

Photo: Satellite image taken by Himawari-8, a weather satellite operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency.

But it also said that some areas on the islands had electricity restored and that local cell phones were slowly starting to connect to the networks.

The International Federation of the Red Cross said it was mobilizing its regional network to respond to what it called the worst volcanic eruptions in the Pacific Ocean in decades.

“Among the small updates we have, the scale of the devastation can be enormous, especially for the outer islands,” said Katie Greenwood, head of the IFRC Pacific delegation.

Photo: Coastal cities in Peru are inundated after the eruption of the Tonga volcano

Satellite images captured the eruption on Saturday as the eruption sent plumes of smoke into the air, prompting 1.2-meter-high tsunami warnings and evacuation orders on several islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Concerns were growing among the Tonga community in New Zealand, who were desperate to connect with their families back home.

Image: This image shows Himawari-8 the column rising over Tonga after the eruption of the volcano

“We pray to God to help our country in this sad moment. We hope everyone is safe,” said Michaeli Attiola, secretary of the Tonga Wesleyan Church in Auckland.

Sania Ruggiero, a communications worker in Suva, Fiji’s capital, described how the eruption left his “entire house shaking”, despite being located about 750 kilometers from Tonga.

Photo: Aerial view of boats believed to have capsized in the tsunami

He said, “My doors and windows were all rattling like hell. I wasn’t even as bad as the others.”

Hundreds of people fled their homes.”

“This is the worst disaster that Tonga has experienced in living memory and recovery from it will take years,” Ruggiero added.

[ad_2]