Drinking water and ash big concern as Tonga assesses tsunami damage

SYDNEY/WELLINGTON – Australia and New Zealand sent flights on Monday to assess damage in Tonga, after the eruption of a volcano triggered a tsunami and blanketed the Pacific island with ash.

Australia’s Minister for the Pacific Zed Seselja said initial reports suggested no mass casualties but Australian police reported significant damage with “houses thrown around.” Tonga’s airport appeared to be in relatively good condition.

The eruption and resulting tsunami cut off phone and internet lines for the entire island, as well as damage to an undersea cable, which could take more than a week to restore.

Despite communication issues, Tonga’s deputy head of mission in Australia, Curtis Tu’ihalangingie, raised concerns about the risk of aid deliveries spreading COVID-19 to the island, which is COVID-free.

“We don’t want to bring in another wave — a tsunami of COVID-19,” he said.

Any aid sent to Tonga would need to be quarantined, he said, and it was likely no foreign personnel would be allowed to disembark aircraft.

Ash was posing a major health concern, contaminating drinking water. “Most people are not aware the ash is toxic and bad for them to breathe,” Tu’ihalangingie said.

The Ha’atafu Beach Resort, west of the capital Nuku’alofa, was “completely wiped out,” the owners said. The family that manages the resort had run for their lives to escape the tsunami. “The whole western coastline has been completely destroyed,” the resort said.

British woman Angela Glover was reported missing after she was washed away by a wave when she went to get her dogs. Her husband managed to hold onto a tree but his wife and their dogs were swept away, New Zealand state broadcaster TVNZ reported.

The Red Cross said it was mobilizing to respond to what it called the worst volcanic eruption the Pacific has experienced in decades. Katie Greenwood, the Pacific head of delegation for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said up to 80,000 people could have been affected.

Early data suggests that Saturday’s eruption was the biggest since Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines 30 years ago. It was felt as far away as Fiji, New Zealand, the United States and Japan. Two people drowned off a beach in Northern Peru due to high waves caused by the resulting tsunami, and countries thousands of kilometers away have reported volcanic clouds of ash.

“This is an eruption best witnessed from space,” Cronin said.