The first planes carrying emergency aid and communications equipment landed on Thursday in the Tonga Islands, cut off from the world for five days after a devastating eruption and tsunami.
The small Pacific nation has been isolated since the eruption on January 15 of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano, one of the most powerful in the world for decades, which caused heavy damage as well as the rupture of the communications cable connecting the country to global Internet and telephone networks.
Australian and New Zealand military planes landed at the archipelago’s main airport on the island of Tongatapu on Thursday, authorities said. The day before, after days of work, the track had finally been cleared of the five to ten centimeter layer of volcanic ash which made it unusable.
“Landed! exclaimed Australia’s Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Zed Seselja, welcoming the arrival of a C-17 transporter with “much needed humanitarian supplies” on board. “A second C-17 is on the way,” he added.
New Zealand has also confirmed the arrival of its military transport aircraft. “The plane carries […] including water canisters, temporary shelter kits, generators, hygiene kits, and communications equipment,” said New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta.
The first images from Nuku’alofa, the capital of Tonga, show buildings covered in ash, collapsed walls and streets littered with rocks, tree trunks and other debris.
About 84,000 people, more than 80 percent of Tonga’s population, were affected by the volcano’s eruption and subsequent tsunami, the UN said.
In particular, the archipelago faces an urgent need for drinking water. “Water supplies across Tonga have been badly affected by the ashfall and salt water from the tsunami,” said Katie Greenwood of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
According to her, the situation poses “a growing risk of diseases such as cholera and diarrhoea”.
Farming ruined
Tonga’s food reserves may not be sufficient. “All agriculture is devastated,” said the president of the country’s National Assembly, Fatafehi Fakafanua.
Since planes can land again, many nations have offered to help. Japan has announced the dispatch of two C-130 aircraft. Other countries, including China and France, have also announced their assistance.
Strict measures to prevent entry into the country of COVID-19, which has so far spared it, will remain in place. Aid will be delivered without any physical contact, and crews and passengers will spend little time on the ground.
Help will also arrive by sea. Two New Zealand ships, the Wellington and theAotearoa, which carry drinking water and a desalination unit capable of supplying 70,000 liters per day, are expected to arrive in Tonga on Friday. Australia intends to sail the military ship Adelaide the same day with water purification equipment and two Chinook heavy utility helicopters on board.
Tonga’s government called the eruption an “unprecedented” disaster, saying waves up to 15 meters high destroyed all homes on some islands. Three people were killed.
The volcanic eruption was heard as far away as Alaska, more than 9000 km away. A mushroom of smoke 30 km high dispersed ash, gas and acid rain on the 170 islands of the archipelago.
The phenomenon caused a huge pressure wave that crossed the planet at a speed of 1231 km / h, according to New Zealand’s National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research.
It will take at least four weeks for US cable company SubCom to restore Tonga’s internet connection.