Still No Contact With Tonga; Satellites Reveal Damage

Tongans living overseas are facing an anxious wait for news of loved ones after a volcano triggered a tsunami.  The underwater volcano erupted on Saturday, about 40 miles north of the capital Nuku'alofa.

The eruption, which was heard as far away as the U.S., caused waves higher than three feet to crash into Tonga.  The authorities have not confirmed any deaths but communications are crippled, making it difficult to establish the scale of the destruction.  Tonga is virtually unreachable after a critical undersea cable connecting the Pacific islands to the outside world was severed. It may take up to two weeks to restore phone and internet lines.

But the brother of a British woman said she died after being swept away in the waves. Angela Glover, 50, was washed away while trying to save her dogs.  Both New Zealand and Australia sent surveillance flights to find out more, with New Zealand saying there had been "significant damage" along the western coast of Tongatapu, Tonga's main island.  Satellite photos of Tonga's main island (below) show no visible settlements after the eruption.

A distress signal has been detected from two small, isolated Tongan islands, the UN says.  The Ha'atafu Beach Resort on Tongatapu was "completely wiped out" and "the whole western coastline completely destroyed", according to a post on the resort's Facebook page written by contacts overseas.  The post said those living there "just managed to get to safety running through the bushes and escaping", and were "not able to save anything".

The Red Cross said even satellite phones, used by many aid agencies, had poor service due to the effects of the ash cloud. The organization estimates that up to 80,000 people may have been affected by the tsunami. Alexander Matheou, the Red Cross's regional director, said it was likely the volcanic dust and tsunami had contaminated Tonga's water supplies.  "One of the greatest needs is to provide water purification and clean drinking water," Matheou said.

Some officials have voiced concerns over relief efforts resulting in a spread of Covid in the country, which only recorded its first case in October.  "We don't want to bring in another wave - a tsunami of Covid-19," Tonga's deputy head of mission in Australia, Curtis Tu'ihalangingie, told reporters.