Maui residents mourn the loss of family in Tonga
Others concerned over clean drinking water for relatives
Eighty-year-old Ilaisaane “Funaki” Malafu of Kihei is mourning the loss of two family members in Tonga as she learned of their deaths in the tsunami that hit the smaller outer islands of Tonga hard last month.
Gone are a niece who resided on Nomuka and a second cousin, a man, who lived on Mango, said James Malafu, who translated over the phone for his mother, who cried upon learning the news.
Media reports have said there were three confirmed people killed in the tsunami, two Tongan residents, identified as Lataimaumi Lauaki of Nomuka and Telai Tutuila, and a British woman, Angela Glover. Tutuila made sure his family got to a safe place before he died in the tsunami, Funaki Malafu’s daughter Ana Malafu-Eliesa said.
“She wants to go really bad to see the family,” James Malafu said, noting this mother normally goes back home every year, but due to the pandemic, has not been back for about two years.
“It’s kind of sad for her, what happened to the family,” he added.
Funaki Malafu was born and raised on Nomuka, a rural island that depends on crops such as taro and sweet potato as well as pigs and fish to feed their families, said James Malafu, who has also visited the island, which is accessible by boat.
Media outlets have reported that all houses on Mango were wiped out in the tsunami and there was extensive damage to the island of Nomuka.
Even though the undersea volcanic eruption and tsunami occurred on Jan. 15, the Tongan community on Maui is only recently learning the fate of their family and friends in the Pacific nation, which is made up of more than 100 islands.
Since the eruption and tsunami, communications have been difficult, as the events damaged the single underwater fiber-optic cable that connects the kingdom with the rest of the world.
The loss of the cable leaves most Tongans without use of the internet and unable to make phone calls abroad.
Leka Anitema and husband, Henry, of Wailuku, have heard back from some relatives but not others.
As of last week, Leka Anitema had not heard back yet from her father, but has heard from her brother that their father is OK.
She said her father’s family lives right across the beach on the main island of Tongatapu, but when the waves came they were thankfully up in a farm area a little more inland and on higher ground than their home.
Anitema said that in a video posted by her father, he was at the farm area in a car and that she could hear the “volcanic pellets falling like rain and the midday sky getting darker by the minute.”
As days went on without knowing what happened to her father and family, she described it as “a waiting game in a modern world where we almost never have to wait for anything anymore.
“In this case, we are not waiting for our drive-thru order or our Amazon package to arrive — we are waiting for an assurance that our loved ones across the sea, who already live a hard life, are OK,” she said.
Her husband, Henry heard back from his 62-year-old mother after about five days of waiting.
So far his family is doing OK on Tongatapu, but the main challenge is the drinking water, which may be contaminated from the eruption. He said the Tongan government is trying its best to test most of the water to be sure it is safe to drink.
Leka Anitema said her mother-in-law was rationing her water and also sweeping volcanic ash around her home earlier this month, but later went indoors when breathing became too much of a challenge.
There were some nervous times for the family, as Henry Anitema remembers talking to his mother as the volcano was erupting last month. He thought he heard “thunder in the background” and “huge noises.”
“You guys have a thunderstorm?” he remembered asking.
His mom got emotional. “No, that’s not thunder, that’s the eruption from the volcano,” she said.
His mother also asked the family for prayers.
“She just asked us, myself and my family to keep them in mind with our prayers,” he recalled.
His mother told him that other family members were in the midst of evacuating. She didn’t evacuate and remained home, but was OK following the incident.
Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Britain and China have been delivering assistance, though Tonga went into a lockdown on Wednesday after finding coronavirus infections in two port workers helping to distribute aid, the Associated Press reported.
Last week, it was reported that nearly two dozen sailors on an Australian military ship going to deliver aid to Tonga tested positive for COVID-19. No crew members left the ship and instead supplies were moved ashore by crane, media reports said.
As for the smaller islands impacted by the eruption and tsunami, James Malafu said those people were allowed to relocate to the main island of Tonga, which some of his mother’s family members have done.
James Malafu, a pastor at the Free Church of Tonga, said members are working together to send donations to the island nation.
Others around Hawaii are also planning to help raise money for those affected by the volcanic eruption and tsunami. The “Aloha4Tonga” fundraiser will air on Hawaii News Now/K5 at 7 p.m. March 4, with all proceeds going directly to relief efforts. The effort was put together by Kumu Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu and Hawaii entertainers Mele Apana, Shannon Scott, Lina Langi and Billy V, in partnership with the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement and the Consular Agency of Tonga in Honolulu.
The council’s website at hawaiiancouncil.org/aloha4ton ga will serve as the landing page for donations, which will then go to the consular agency for distribution to the people of Tonga.