New Zealand water ship unloads in Tonga as other aid trickles in
Wellington, New Zealand/Sydney, AustraliaReuters Life-saving water supplies from a New Zealand navy ship were distributed across Tonga’s main island on Friday, as other countries battled the logistics of delivering aid to one of the world’s remotest communities. Royal New Zealand Navy’s HMNZS Aotearoa sails in the sea off the coast of Tonga, on 21st January. […]
Updated: World rushes aid to tsunami-hit Tonga as drinking water, food runs short
Updated 11:30pm (AEDT)Wellington, New Zealand/Sydney, AustraliaReuters More ships and aircraft carrying aid are due to arrive in Tonga in coming days as the international community responds to calls for urgent assistance from the Pacific island nation following a devastating volcanic eruption and tsunami. Personnel wearing personal protection equipment, and a load of humanitarian relief supplies […]
First aid finally reaches Tonga as telephone lines partially restored
Reuters The first aircraft carrying humanitarian supplies arrived in Tonga on Thursday, five days after the South Pacific island nation was hit by a volcanic eruption and tsunami that devastated communities and spoiled most of its drinking water. A Royal New Zealand Air Force C-130 Hercules landed in Tonga’s Fua’amotu International Airport, a defence spokesperson […]
Updated: Tongans make contact with world as phone lines partially restored after tsunami; oil spill in Peru an “ecological disaster”
Updated: 10am (AEDT)Reuters Tongans could finally make phone contact with their families and the outside world on Thursday five days after a massive volcanic eruption and tsunami completely cut off the Pacific island nation. The explosion of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano, which has killed at least three people and sent tsunami waves across the Pacific, […]
COVID-19 concerns force UN to prepare tsunami-hit Tonga relief aid at a distance
Reuters The United Nations is preparing to carry out relief operations for Tonga at a distance to avoid a COVID-19 outbreak in the Pacific island nation reeling from a volcanic eruption and tsunami, an official said on Wednesday. All the homes on one of Tonga’s small outer islands have been destroyed and three people have […]
All homes on one of Tonga’s islands destroyed, three dead
Sydney, Australia/Wellington, New ZealandReuters All the homes on one of Tonga’s small outer islands have been destroyed by a massive volcanic eruption and tsunami, with three people so far confirmed dead, the government said on Tuesday in its first update since the disaster struck. With communications badly hampered by the severing of an undersea cable, information […]
Damage on tsunami-hit Tonga’s main island hampering relief efforts
Sydney, Australia/Wellington, New ZealandReuters Significant damage was reported along the western coast of Tonga’s main island on Tuesday following the weekend’s massive volcanic eruption and tsunami, but a closed airport and downed communications are hampering international relief efforts. The New Zealand High Commission reported the damage along the western coast of the main island of […]
Essay: The Tonga volcanic eruption has revealed the vulnerabilities in our global telecommunication system
In an article published on The Conversation, DALE DOMINEY-HOWES, professor of hazards and disaster risk science at the University of Sydney, looks at what events on Tonga reveal about the risks to global communication systems…
Distress signal prompts UN concern after Tonga volcanic eruption
Sydney, Australia/Wellington, New ZealandReuters A distress signal has been detected in an isolated, low-lying group of islands in the Tonga archipelago following Saturday’s massive volcanic eruption and tsunami, the United Nations said, prompting particular concern for its inhabitants. Initial reports suggested no mass casualties on the main island of Togatapu, but two people were reported […]
Updated: Australia, New Zealand step up efforts to aid tsunami-hit Tonga
Updated: 11am (AEDT)Sydney, Australia/Wellington, New ZealandReuters Australia and New Zealand dispatched surveillance flights on Monday to assess the damage in Tonga, isolated from the rest of the world due to the eruption of an underwater volcano that triggered a tsunami and blanketed the Pacific island with ash. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison pledged to provide […]