Pacific on alert
Fears for Tongan citizens as waves surge
The tsunami threat around the Pacific from a huge undersea volcanic eruption began to recede yesterday, while the extent of damage to Tonga remained unclear.
Satellite images showed the spectacular eruption that took place on Saturday evening, with a plume of ash, steam and gas rising like a mushroom above the blue Pacific waters. A sonic boom could be heard as far away as Alaska.
In nearby Tonga it sent tsunami waves crashing across the shore and people rushing to higher ground.
The eruption cut the internet to Tonga, leaving friends and family members around the world still anxiously trying to get in touch to figure out if there were any injuries and the extent of the damage. Even government websites and other official sources remained without updates.
Aid agencies said thick ash and smoke was continuing to affect Tonga’s air and water, and that authorities were asking people to wear masks and drink bottled water.
Dave Snider, the tsunami warning co-ordinator for the National Tsunami Warning Centre in Palmer, Alaska, said it was very unusual for a volcanic eruption to affect an entire ocean basin, and the spectacle was both “humbling and scary”.
The eruption sent shockwaves around the world and put many countries around the Pacific on high alert for tsunamis or surges, including in New Zealand.
Authorities in Fiji and Samoa also issued warnings, telling people to avoid the shoreline due to strong currents and dangerous waves.
In Australia, beaches across NSW and Queensland were closed over concerns and tsunami advisories were issued for Hawaii, Alaska and the US Pacific coast.
In Japan, authorities recorded a 1.2 metre tsunami in the Kominato district of Amami-oshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture late on Saturday.
This was followed by a 1.1 metre wave at Kuku Port in Iwate Prefecture.
Japan ordered the evacuation of residents in seaside areas and predicted waves as high as 3m in its Amami and Tokara islands and also its Iwate Prefecture.
The US Geological Survey estimated the eruption caused the equivalent of a magnitude 5.8 earthquake. Scientists said tsunamis generated by volcanoes rather than earthquakes are relatively rare.
Rachel Afeaki-taumoepeau, who chairs the New Zealand Tonga Business Council, said she hoped the relatively low level of the tsunami waves would have allowed most people to get to safety, although she worried about those living on islands closest to the volcano.
She said she had not yet been able to contact her friends and family in Tonga.
“We are praying that the damage is just to infrastructure and people were able to get to higher land,” she said.
Tonga gets its internet via an undersea cable from Suva, Fiji, which presumably was damaged. All internet connectivity with Tonga was lost about 6.40pm local time, said Doug Madory, director of internet analysis for the network intelligence firm Kentik.
Southern Cross Cable Network, the company that manages the connection, does not know yet “if the cable is cut or just suffering power loss”, chief technical officer Dean Veverka said.
The Fiji-based Islands Business news site reported that a convoy of police and military troops evacuated Tonga’s King Tupou VI from his palace near the shore. He was among the many residents who headed for higher ground.
On Tonga, home to about 105,000 people, video posted to social media showed large waves washing ashore in coastal areas, swirling around homes, a church and other buildings.
In Hawaii, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre reported waves that measured half a metre (1.6 feet) in Nawiliwili, Kauai and 80 centimetres (2.7 feet) in Hanalei. The National Weather Service said there were reports of boats getting pushed up in docks, but the hazard diminished as the morning went on.
“We are relieved that there is no reported damage and only minor flooding throughout the islands,” the tsunami centre said, describing the situation in Hawaii. The tsunami advisory for the islands was lifted about 11 hours after the eruption more than 4828 kilometres away.
In Tonga, a Twitter user identified as Dr Faka’iloatonga Taumoefolau posted video showing waves crashing ashore.
“Can literally hear the volcano eruption, sounds pretty violent,” he wrote, adding in a later post: “Raining ash and tiny pebbles, darkness blanketing the sky.”
The explosion of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano was the latest in a series of dramatic eruptions.
Earth-imaging company Planet Labs PBC had watched the island in recent days after a new volcanic vent there began erupting in December.
Satellite images captured by the company show how drastically the volcano had shaped the area, creating a growing island off Tonga. “The surface area of the island appears to have expanded by nearly 45 per cent due to ashfall,” Planet Labs said days before the latest activity.
The volcano is about 64km north of Nuku’alofa. In late 2014 and 2015, a series of eruptions in the area created a small island and disrupted international air travel to the Pacific archipelago for several days. — AP*
We are praying that the damage is just to
infrastructure and people were able to get to higher land.
Rachel Afeaki-taumoepeau, chairwoman of the New Zealand Tonga
Business Council