Tongans set off distress beacon
Nuku’aLOfa: A distress signal has been detected in a lowlying Tongan island following the volcanic eruption and tsunami, the UN said on Tuesday as the first death was reported.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs expressed concern for two islands, Mango and Fonoi, after surveillance flights confirmed “substantial property damage” from Saturday’s eruption, but there had been no contact with residents.
“An active distress beacon had been detected from Mango,” the OCHA said. The island is home to more than 30 people, according to Tongan census figures.
The agency said extensive damage had been reported on the western beaches of Tonga’s main island, Tongatapu, with resorts and houses either destroyed or seriously damaged and two people missing.
The news came as cleaning crews worked to remove oil from a beach in the Peruvian province of Callao after a spill during unloading of the Italian-flagged tanker Mare Doricum at La Pampilla refinery
caused by the abnormal waves recorded after the volcanic eruption in Tonga.
It is two days since the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano exploded, cloaking Tonga in a film of ash, triggering a Pacific-wide tsunami and releasing shockwaves that wrapped around the world.
But with phone lines still down and an undersea internet cable cut – and not expected to be repaired for weeks – the true toll of the eruption-tsunami disaster is not yet known.
No details of the missing were released but the Sydneybased brother of a British woman who was swept away by the tsunami said his sister’s body had been found.
Nick Eleini said the family was “devastated” that Angela Glover had died wile trying to rescue her dogs.
Three days after the eruption, information coming out of the Pacific archipelago is scarce, with most communication links severed.
New Zealand MP Jenny Salesa, whose electorate has a large number of Tongan residents, said everyone was praying for the people of Tonga.
“They’re really just worried about their safety,” she told Radio New Zealand. “It’s basically not knowing whether they are well, not knowing whether any of their family members are missing or (have) been washed out to sea.”
The New Zealand and Australian air forces conducted surveillance flights over Tonga on Monday and were preparing further flights to carry emergency supplies to the Pacific kingdom.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Hanson of New Zealand’s geological hazard monitoring system GNS said the tsunami probably occurred due to a previous eruption one day earlier.
“It is likely the earlier January 14 eruption blew away part of the volcano above water, so water flowed into the extremely hot vent,” he said.
“This meant the Saturday eruption initially occurred underwater and exploded through the ocean, causing a widespread tsunami.”