The Tonga volcanic eruption unleashed explosive forces that dwarfed the power of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, NASA scientists have said, as survivors on Monday described how the devastating Pacific blast тАЬmessed up our brains.тАЭ
The NASA Earth Observatory said the Hunga Tonga-Hunga HaтАЩapai volcano spewed debris as high as 40 kilometers into the atmosphere during the Jan. 15 eruption that triggered huge tsunami waves.
тАЬWe think the amount of energy released by the eruption was equivalent to somewhere between five to 30 megatons (five to 30 million metric tons) of TNT,тАЭ NASA scientist Jim Garvin said in a news release.
NASA said the eruption was hundreds of times stronger than the U.S. atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in August 1945, which was estimated to be about 15 kilotons (15,000 metric tons) of TNT.
The agency said the eruption тАЬobliteratedтАЭ the volcanic island about 65 kilometers north of the Tongan capital NukuтАЩalofa.
It blanketed the island kingdom of about 100,000 in a layer of toxic ash, poisoning drinking water, destroying crops and completely wiping out at least two villages.
It also claimed at least three lives in Tonga and resulted in the drowning deaths of two beachgoers in Peru after freak waves hit the South American country.
Peruvian authorities have declared an environmental disaster after the waves hit an oil tanker offloading near Lima, creating a huge slick along the coast.
In Tonga, the scale of destruction remains unclear after communications to remote islands were knocked out.
NukuтАЩalofa-based journalist Mary Lyn Fonua said locals were still coming to terms with the scale of the disaster.
тАЬItтАЩs so beyond what anyone here has ever experienced,тАЭ she said.
тАЬThe shock wave from the eruption just messed up our brains, weтАЩre just starting to return to normal now.тАЭ
Fonua said the coating of fine gray grime covering everything was proving difficult to live with and raising concerns about long-term health issues.
тАЬIt gets everywhere,тАЭ she said. тАЬIt irritates your eyes, you get sores in the corner of your mouth, everyone has blackened fingernails тАФ we look like a grubby lot.
тАЬWe need a good tropical deluge to wash everything away.тАЭ
Japanese, New Zealand and Australian defense forces have started delivering urgent relief supplies, particularly water.
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