Navy on the way with aid
Two people are dead and a third death is unconfirmed, after the explosive eruption of Hunga-TongaHunga-Ha’apai caused a devastating tsunami in Tonga on Saturday.
The only person identified as a casualty is British woman Angela Glover, 50, the founder of an animal rescue shelter, who was washed away trying to save her dogs.
Her brother said authorities had recovered her body, but it was not known if her death was one of the two confirmed.
Meanwhile, photographs taken during a NZ Defence Force surveillance flight on Monday show a thick layer of ash remains blanketed over the capital.
New Zealand Navy ships HMNZS Wellington and HMNZS Aotearoa left yesterday, despite no official request for aid from Tonga.
The Government had planned to send a C-130 Hercules aircraft to Tonga on Monday to drop emergency supplies including fresh water, but ash and debris on the runway of Nuku’alofa airport had prevented this.
‘‘We have taken the decision for both [navy vessels] to sail so they can respond quickly if called upon by the Tongan Government, ’’ said Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta.
Other deployments were possible in the next few days.
Tonga has maintained strict border and quarantine measures to keep Covid-19 out, and any immediate assistance was expected to be delivered in a ‘‘contactless way’’, Mahuta said.
Defence Minister Peeni Henare said HMNZS Wellington would be carrying surveying and diving teams, as well as a Seasprite helicopter. HMNZS Aotearoa would carry water supplies along with disaster relief stores.
‘‘Water is among the highest priorities for Tonga at this stage and HMNZS Aotearoa can carry 250,000 litres, and produce 70,000 litres per day through a desalination plant,’’ Henare said.
The journey for both ships would take three days. The Hercules remained on standby to travel once the airport runway is cleared.
The New Zealand Government has allocated a further $500,000 in humanitarian assistance, taking the initial funding total to $1 million.
Yesterday, New Zealand’s acting High Commissioner to the Kingdom, Peter Lund, told Tagata Pasifika there was a lot of damage to Tonga’s capital, Nuku’alofa.
‘‘There’s a huge cleanup operation under way, the town has been blanketed in the thick film of volcanic dust,’’ he said.
He said there was a need for water testing equipment and diesel generator.
Satellite images showing the impact of the tsunami were released by the United Nations Satellite Centre. It said it had analysed 104 structures in an area without cloud, and 41 structures were identified as damaged.
The effects of the volcanic eruption in Tonga could be worsened by light rainfall, which was predicted yesterday in Tonga, experts are warning.
The impact would depend on the amount of rain, disaster risk professor Tom Wilson from the University of Canterbury said.
‘‘Lots of rain is usually a good thing because it will wash the ash off the plants and wash away chemical leaching,’’ he said. ‘‘But if you just have a drizzle, that can be bad because the density of the ash becomes heavier.’’
Communication with the islands has been severely limited since the eruption because of damage to
undersea cables, leaving families overseas anxious for news.
Panmure-Ō tāhuhu Labour MP Jenny Salesa, who has family members in Tonga, said the main concern was an island called Atata, with which no communication had yet been made. There was also significant damage to the western coast of the main island, Tongatapu.
Salesa, who is heading up the newly formed Aotearoa Tonga Relief Committee, had spoken to a church minister on Ha’apai via satellite phone, who said there was ash everywhere.
There are also concerns for Tonga’s vanilla crops, one of its biggest export products, as volcanic ash threatens the plantations.
New Zealanders wanting to help tsunami-hit Tonga have been urged to donate cash and not ‘‘hard goods’’ because of the challenge of transporting supplies to the disaster-stricken islands.