Inputs by Aarya Krishnan
The Kingdom of Tonga is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Australia. The nearest country is Niue.
On January 15th, 2022, an underwater volcano called Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai, erupted in the Pacific Ocean.
This region, as you probably know, is on the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’ and sees volcano eruptions periodically.
The eruptions sent a huge cloud of ash, gas, and steam 20 kilometres (12.4miles) into the air. Satellite images of the eruption showed a massive ash cloud.
Ash was seen falling from the sky in the Tonga capital, Nuku’alofa, on Saturday evening.
Immediately after the volcano, Tonga issued a tsunami warning to its citizens.
The explosion impacted large areas of land around the Pacific Ocean. The Japan Meteorological Agency reported that the resultant 11-foot-high waves reached Hawaii, with smaller waves hitting the US & Japan Pacific coasts as well. The impact was felt as far away as Alaska.
The Fijian government issued a tsunami warning, telling people in coastal parts of the country to move to higher ground. There werereports that in some Fijian villages, families had to be evacuated.
In Australia, Japan, Hawaii, Alaska, and along the US Pacific coast, residents were asked to move away from the shore to higher ground and to keep an eye out for specific instructions from their local emergency management officials. The US removed the tsunami warning on the 19th of January.
After the eruption, the communication link with Tonga was broken. Tonga is connected to the world through a single undersea cable, which was damaged as a result of the natural event. Some people used satellite phones to communicate.
Help Pours In
Australia and NZ despatched help to Tonga immediately.
The UN has also promised help through UNICEF and other support agencies.
Food, Clean Drinking water, and medical supplies are usually the most important items needed at the start of the rehabilitation work.
Image Credit: Met Dept. of Tonga