Five days after the mighty volcanic eruption, Australia and New Zealand took off two aircraft. On board, humanitarian aid and telecommunications equipment.
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Finally. Cut off from the world for five days after a powerful volcanic eruption, the Tonga islands are seeing help arrive. Two military planes carrying much-awaited emergency aid landed at the airport in the small Pacific nation on Thursday (January 20th). These aircraft, an Australian and a New Zealander, have on board humanitarian aid and telecommunications equipment. The runway on the main island of Tongatapu was cleared on Wednesday of the five to ten centimeter thick layer of volcanic ash that covered it and made it unusable until now.
Help will also arrive by sea: the ship HMAS Adelaide, of the Australian fleet, is about to set sail for Tonga with relief equipment on board. It is “hope and intention” from Canberra that the boat leaves on Friday, an Australian defense official said. He will bring “additional water purification equipment and humanitarian supplies”said Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Two Chinook heavy-lift helicopters were also loaded onto the ship.
Two New Zealand ships HMNZS Wellington and the HMNZS Aotearoa, carrying drinking water and a desalination unit capable of supplying 70,000 liters per day, also left for the archipelago. China also announced the shipment of basic necessities. About 84,000 people, more than 80% of the population of the Tonga Islands, were affected by the eruption of the Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano and the subsequent tsunami