Huge Tonga volcanic eruption causes ‘significant damage’, but tsunami threat passes
- Massive volcanic eruption blankets Tonga in ash and cuts communication links
- Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said threat from eruption had passed
Tsunami-hit Tonga remained largely uncontactable on Sunday with telephone and internet links severed, leaving relatives in faraway New Zealand praying for their families on the Pacific islands as casualty reports had yet to come through.
Internet and phone lines went down at about 6.40pm local time on Saturday, leaving the 105,000 residents on the islands virtually uncontactable.
There were no official reports of injuries or deaths in Tonga as of Sunday night, although communications were limited and contact had not been established with outlying coastal areas beyond the capital Nuku’alofa and closer to the volcano, Jacinda Ardern the Prime Minister of New Zealand told a news conference on Sunday.
Tonga, an island nation with about 105,000 residents, lies 2,383 kilometres northeast of New Zealand.
“Nuku’alofa is covered in thick plumes of volcanic dust but otherwise conditions are calm and stable,” Ardern said. “There are parts of Tonga where we just don’t know yet … we just haven’t established communication.”
Satellite images captured the volcanic eruption on Saturday as the explosion sent plumes of smoke into the air and about 19km (12 miles) above the sea level. The sky over Tonga was darkened by the ash.