The Tongan government has confirmed that all houses on the island of Mango were wiped out in the tsunami that followed Saturday’s volcanic eruption.

It confirmed that three people are now known to have died: a 65-year-old woman in Mango and a 49-year-old man in Nomuka, both in the outlying Ha’apai island group; as well as British national Angela Glover in Tongatapu.

The Tongan navy had deployed with health teams and water, food and tents to the Ha’apai islands.

One aerial image taken by the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) showed Mango and described the damage there as “catastrophic”.

No houses, but just a few temporary tarpaulin shelters could be seen.

The Tongan government said Mango, Atata, and Fonoifua islands were being evacuated, and that water supplies in Tonga were seriously affected. It said all houses were destroyed on Mango Island, only two houses remained on Fonoifua and extensive damage occurred on Nomuka Island.

The government also said there were multiple injuries.

First official Tongan statement
It is the first official statement the kingdom has made about the disaster to international media.

The government said parts of the western side of Tongatapu, including Kanokupolu, were being evacuated after dozens of houses were damaged, and that in the central district many houses were damaged in Kolomotu’a and on the island of ‘Eua.

A diplomat, Tonga’s deputy head of mission in Australia, Curtis Tu’ihalangingie, earlier described the images taken by the NZDF reconnaissance flight as “alarming”, saying they showed numerous buildings missing on Atata island as well.

“People panic, people run and get injuries,” Tu’ihalangingie told Reuters. “Possibly there will be more deaths and we just pray that is not the case.”

With communications in the South Pacific island nation cut, the true extent of casualties is still not clear.

Glover, 50, was the first known death in the tsunami, swept away as she tried to rescue the dogs she cared for at a shelter.

Australia’s Minister for the Pacific Zed Seselja said conditions on other outer islands were “very tough, we understand, with many houses being destroyed in the tsunami”.

UN report of distress signal
The United Nations had earlier reported a distress signal was detected in Ha’apai, where Mango is located.

The Tongan navy reported the area was hit by waves estimated to be 5m-10m high, said the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Atata and Mango are between 50km and 70km from the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano, which sent tsunami waves across the Pacific Ocean and was heard some 2300km away in New Zealand when it erupted on Saturday.

Atata has a population of about 100 people and Mango about 50 people.

“It is very alarming to see the wave possibly went through Atata from one end to the other,” Tu’ihalangingie said.

Workers on airport runway
The NZDF images were posted unofficially on a Facebook site and confirmed by Tu’ihalangingie.

Taken from a P-3K2 Orion plane, they also showed workers on the runway clearing volcanic ash at Fua’amotu International Airport, the country’s main airfield.

One caption described the runway as “unserviceable” because of the layer of ash on it, meaning aircraft cannot land there.

It said the clearance operation was being done with shovels and wheelbarrows, and that “no heavy excavation machinery was observed”.

The Tongan government said wharves were also damaged in the eruption.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Two New Zealand naval ships are being sent to Tonga to provide support, carrying fresh water, emergency provisions, and diving teams.

It comes as ashfall on the Nuku’alofa airport runway means one of the aircraft readied yesterday — a C-130 Hercules, to supply aid — would be unable to land.

The official death toll from Saturday’s eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano and tsunami is two, but getting accurate information from the ground has been difficult.

In a statement this afternoon, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta and Defence Minister Peeni Henare said New Zealand was ready to assist.

The HMNZS Wellington would transport survey equipment and a helicopter, while HMNZS Aotearoa would transport 250,000 litres of water and is able to produce an extra 70,000 litres per day through salinisation, they said.

The journey is expected to take three days.

Mahuta said authorities had struggled with communications on the ground so decided to send aid before an official request.

“The delays mean we have taken the decision for both HMNZS Wellington and HMNZS Aotearoa to sail so they can respond quickly if called upon by the Tongan Government,” she said.

Henare said the ships would return to New Zealand if not required.

He said the survey and diving teams would be able to assess wharf infrastructure, and changes to the seabed in shipping channels and ports, to assure future delivery of aid and support from the sea.

The Hercules flight remains on standby with humanitarian aid and disaster relief stores including collapsible water containers, generators and hygiene kits.

Tonga is free of covid-19 and operates strict border controls, so all support is being offered in a contactless way.

The ministers’ statement said a further NZ$500,000 in humanitarian assistance had been allocated, bringing the total to $1 million.

Serious damage has been reported from the west coast of Tongatapu and a state of emergency has been declared.

Acting High Commissioner for New Zealand in Tonga Peter Lund told Tagata Pasifika he could see rubble, large rocks and damaged buildings, with serious damage along the west coast of Tongatapu.

“There is a huge clean-up operation underway, the town has been blanketed in a thick blanket of volcanic dust, but look they’re making progress… roads are being cleared,” he said.

A Briton among fatalities
UN Coordonator in the Pacific Jonathan Veitch said one of the fatalities was British national Angela Glover, who was reported by her family to have been killed by the tsunami.

Glover is thought to have died trying to rescue her dogs at the animal charity she ran.

Veitch told RNZ full information from some islands — such as the Ha’apai group — was not available.

“We know that the Tonga Navy has gone there and we expect to hear back soon.”

The communication situation was “absolutely terrible”.

NEWS? The NZ Government has released an update on New Zealand’s support to #Tonga ➡️https://t.co/01JrI41gNx#Force4NZ #NZAirForce pic.twitter.com/TeYAvdRJMR

— NZ Defence Force (@NZDefenceForce) January 18, 2022

“I have worked in a lot of emergencies but this is one of the hardest in terms of communicating and trying to get information from there. With the severing of the cable that comes from Fiji they’re just cut off completely,” he said.

“We’re relying 100 percent on satellite phones.

‘Bit of a struggle’
“We’ve been discussing with New Zealand and Australia and UN colleagues … and we hope to have this [cable] back up and running relatively soon, but it’s been a bit of a struggle.”

It had been “a lot more difficult” than regular operations, Veitch said.

One of the biggest concerns in the crisis was clean water, he said.

“I think one of the first things that can be done is if those aircraft or those ships that both New Zealand and Australia have offered can provide bottled drinking water. That’s a very small, short-term solution.

“We need to ensure that the desalination plants are functioning well and properly … and we need to send a lot of testing kits and other material over there so people can treat their own water, because as you know, the vast majority of the population in Tonga is reliant on rainwater.

“And with the ash as it currently is, it has been a bit acidic, so we’re not sure of the quality of the water right now.”

Access in ‘covid-free nation’
Another issue was access.

“Tonga is one of the few lucky countries in the world that hasn’t had covid … so we’ll have to operate rather remotely. So we’ll be supporting the government to do the implementation and then working very much through local organisations.”

For those in Tonga who were cut off, Veitch said the main message was “everybody is working day and night on this. We are putting our supplies together. We are ready to move.

“We have teams on the ground. We are coming up with cash and other supply solutions … so help is on its way”.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. It corrects an earlier report on the death toll headlined “Tonga volcano tsunami death toll rises to three, reports UN”. The death toll stood at 2 as confirmed by MFAT.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says New Zealand will move to the red traffic light setting if omicron is spreading in the community following reports that a border worker who was yesterday reported as covid-19 positive has been confirmed to have the omicron variant.

On Tonga, Defence Minister Peeni Henare says he understands power has been restored in large parts of Nuku’alofa following Saturday’s eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai volcano.

The government leaders were speaking at today’s media briefing.

More than 120,000 doses of the children’s Pfizer vaccine for covid-19 are ready to go at clinics around the country.

Tamariki aged five to 11 are eligible for the first of two recommended doses, eight weeks apart.

Ardern said it was pleasing to see people had been lining up today to be the first through the door at vaccination centres, and lines have been clearing quickly.

Henare, who is also Whānau Ora and Associate Health Minister, said the government had been working closely with iwi leaders to ensure tamariki could receive the vaccine, and was looking towards the schools for when they reopened.

Another milestone day
Today was another milestone day in the vaccination campaign in New Zealand, Ardern said.

New Zealanders have been able to get boosters since early January and online bookings open from today.

“For children of course they are able to be booked in now via Book My Vaccine … we’ve heard that whānau are coming in to get both their booster and to bring their children in to be vaccinated as well.”

Today Ardern received her booster dose of the covid-19 vaccination.

She says it was possible 80 percent of the country’s population could be boosted by the end of February.

She thanked all those putting in mahi so far, to get the booster roll-out well underway.

Over half of eligible New Zealanders have had their booster, she says.

66,000 make bookings
“The traffic on the website today has been good, she says, with over 66,000 people having made a booking by midday compared to about 12,000 on other recent days.

Aotearoa’s first community case of the omicron variant of covid-19 was announced yesterday. The person is a border worker in Auckland and has 50 close contacts.

The worker, who was infectious from January 10, took two bus services in Auckland and visited a supermarket and four other stores in the city.

Ardern said when it comes to omicron in the community it is a matter of when, not if.

“New Zealanders have had the break that we hoped they would get but we know that with omicron it is a case of when, not if, and that is why the booster campaign is just so critical.”

The government would look to move into the red traffic light setting if Omicron was spreading in the community, Ardern says.

“What I expect is over the coming weeks to be able to share with you some of the additional preparation that has been done over and above the work that we did on delta, for the specific issue of omicron and what it represents.

“We have the ability to learn from other nations and see the impact or the way that omicron is behaving and prepare ourselves.”

Changes in testing, isiolation
“This will mean changes including to the way testing, isolation and contact tracing is done, and the details will be shared in the coming weeks.

“We’ve managed to get delta down to extraordinarily low levels, that means the risk posed by opening that border, now is very low. We are in the right place now to remove those requirements.”

Ardern said the traffic light system was designed to deal with surges, outbreaks and had the possibility of new variants in mind. She said the measures under the red setting were designed to slow the spread of a variant like omicron.

Another update on traffic light settings would be given on Thursday, she said.

Vaccination passes do not currently have the booster set within them. Ardern said the option to include that in future is being retained, but getting a booster remained the best way to protect against omicron.

“We’re doing what we can but I think it would be wrong to assume those border measures will be sufficient. At some point we will see omicron in the community … we should always assume at any time.”

Eruption crisis in Tonga
Defence Minister Peeni Henare said he understood power had been restored in large parts of the Tongan capital Nuku’alofa.

Ardern said the RNZAF Orion had been undertaking an assessment from the air of the outer islands in particular to provide that information to the Tongan authorities.

The C-130 would perform naval drops, with planning being done to enable that regardless of the status of the airport.

“I understand that on the ground of course that Tonga has also now by sea dispatched to the outer islands.”

She says the C-130 was expected to fly today regardless, and would be able to meet immediate supply needs.

Henare said it is being ensured that the C-130 had the necessities on board. He said the aerial assessment being done would help with that.

The response must be directed to where it was needed the most, he said.

Navy able to deploy quickly
Ardern said the navy was able to deploy very quickly.

She said communication had been difficult but the flight today along with communication with officials on the ground would help establish the needs of those in Tonga, but they knew water was needed.

She cautioned that while there had been reports that some islands had seen no casualties, it was still early days.

It is thought the connectivity problems with the underwater cable stemmed from power outages, she said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Power is being restored in Tonga’s capital Nuku’alofa, and the country is sending naval boats to outlying islands to assess the damage from the huge Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption and tsunami.

A New Zealand Defence Force plane has left for Tonga to assess the damage from Saturday’s volcanic eruption and tsunami.

The violent eight-minute eruption of the undersea volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai triggered atmospheric shockwaves and a tsunami which travelled as far afield as Alaska, Japan and South America.

The flight — which was dependant on whether the ash cloud from Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai had dissipated enough — departed from Whenuapai air base in Auckland.

Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta said reports overnight said there had been no further ash fall, and that there was no damage to the runway in Tonga.

“It’s just a matter of clearing the ash from the runway.

“The flight is scheduled to leave this morning.”

80 percent of power restored
Mahuta said 80 percent of power had been restored in Nuku’alofa, on Tongatapu, but internet connections remained disrupted.

Damage on Tongatapu was able to be better assessed today, and the country was sending its naval capacity to the outer islands, she said.

The initial need was for water and water storage bladders, as well as food and medical supplies, she said, and Mahuta expected the Tongan government would be be making a more formal request for assistance.

WATCH ? An @NZAirForce Orion aircraft departing #BaseAuckland this morning for Tonga to undertake a reconnaissance flight.

View more of our updates➡️https://t.co/0rcqlCN5VU #Force4NZ #NZAirForce pic.twitter.com/TqW4rGFGsE

— NZ Defence Force (@NZDefenceForce) January 16, 2022

The RNZAF P-3K Orion will carry out a reconnaissance flight over the affected area, including low-lying islands that have not been heard from.

The Defence Force was also preparing options for naval deployments to help with the recovery.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said yesterday the navy was making preparations, and either HMNZS Canterbury or HMNZS Manawanui could be deployed.

No casualties in Ha’apai
Labour MP Jenny Salesa, who is Tongan, last night joined a Zoom meeting with Tongan Methodist ministers, including Reverend ‘Ulufonua from Ha’apai.

‘Ulufonua told them there had been no casualties on the group’s main island. There was a lot of ash on the ground and quite a number of houses had been damaged.

“One of the main things that they’re dealing with right now is the damage to the water system and the fact that not all of the people were able to protect some of the tank water that they collect from the rain,” Salesa told RNZ Morning Report.

“There are 169 islands in all of Tonga, 36 of those are inhabited, and so we don’t have updates from any of those other islands.”

Red Cross teams in Tonga have supplies in the country to support 1200 households, their international organisation says.

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Pacific head of delegation Katie Greenwood said they were able to make very brief contact with the teams in Tonga on Saturday before communication was cut.

“Red Cross teams were supporting authorities to move people to the small available amount of higher ground around capital Nuku’alofa itself and also they are well trained to be able to support any needs that are arising on the ground,” she told Morning Report.

Looking for contact with loved ones
Greenwood said once communications were restored the Red Cross was looking to help connect families registration system where people indicate they are looking for contact with loved ones.

Can literally hear the volcano eruption, sounds pretty violent. pic.twitter.com/gX6z2lSJWf

— Dr Faka’iloatonga Taumoefolau (@sakakimoana) January 15, 2022

A P-8 aircraft from Australia’s defence force is also being sent to survey critical infrastructure such as roads, ports and power lines today, if conditions permit. A statement from Australian government ministers said it was co-ordinating critical humanitarian supplies for disaster relief, and was ready to respond to further requests for assistance.

New Zealand Acting High Commissioner in Tonga Peter Lund said Nuku’alofa resembled a moonscape.

He said the capital was blanketed in ash, and there was a lot of damage on the waterfront and along the western coast.

There were no confirmed reports of any deaths or serious injuries, he said.

The ash cloud reached many kilometres into the air, and the eruption is thought to be the largest since Mt Pinatubo, in the Philippines, exploded in 1991.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz