Communications are severely disrupted: aid deliveries to Tonga begin

The connection is severely disrupted
Aid shipments to Tonga begin

01/17/2022, 03:45 AM

After the massive eruption of an undersea volcano in the southern seas, it is still unclear how much damage has been done to the island kingdom of Tonga. The internet is not working, other connection connections are only partially. It is still not possible to say whether there have been injuries or deaths.

Two days after the massive eruption of an undersea volcano near the island of the Kingdom of Tonga, the extent of damage to the South Seas archipelago is still unclear. Military aircraft from New Zealand and Australia were on their way to the area on Monday to conduct an aerial survey. Communications there continued to be severely affected, particularly on some of the remote Tonga islands, which have not been contacted since the eruption of the Hong-Tonga-Hunga-Hapai volcano. Tonga has about 170 islands, 36 of which are uninhabited.

Saturday’s eruption can be heard thousands of miles away. It caused tidal waves and put many Pacific nations on alert. Tsunami waves were recorded not only in Tonga, but also in New Zealand, Japan, Alaska and South America. Aid organizations have warned of health damage from the huge ash clouds and advised Tonga residents to wear masks and only drink bottled water. New Zealand’s Meteorological Service Weather Watch said ash plumes from the eruption have now reached Australia’s east coast. She said the cloud is moving west across Queensland and will cover most of the state during the day.

Auxiliary supplies are dropped if necessary

According to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand wants to send another Hercules machine with critical relief supplies to Tonga. Ardern said that if the runway in Nuku’alofa, Tonga’s capital, was damaged, the materials might also be disposed of. “The flights that are operating today will help us identify places where there is a need,” she said. “We know there is a dire need for water and we hope Hercules is launched today to meet that need.” It is not yet clear whether there are dead or injured.

As a result of the marine earthquake, an important undersea cable was also cut, which means that the Internet in Tonga was cut off. Other communication links are also broken, but it seems that the mobiles are at least partially working, albeit only locally and not internationally.

“It’s a tough time, but Nuku’alofa is still standing, and electricity has been restored to many homes,” New Zealand High Commissioner for Tonga Peter Lund said on Facebook. The capital is located under a layer of volcanic ash. Cleaning operations should begin this week. The submarine volcano, about 65 kilometers from the capital of Tonga, erupted on two consecutive days. While only small tsunami waves were recorded after the first eruption on Friday, the second eruption was also heard on Saturday in New Zealand and Fiji, 2,000 kilometers away.