SYDNEY — Three of Tonga’s smaller islands suffered serious damage from tsunami waves, officials and the Red Cross said Wednesday, as a wider picture begins to emerge of the destruction caused by the eruption of an undersea volcano near the Pacific archipelago nation.
U.N. humanitarian officials report that about 84,000 people — more than 80 percent of Tonga’s population — have been impacted by the volcano’s eruption, U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said, pointing to three deaths, injuries, loss of homes, and polluted water.
Communications have been down throughout Tonga since the eruption on Saturday, but a ship made it to the outlying islands of Nomuka, Mango and Fonoifua on Wednesday, reporting back that few homes remain standing after settlements were hit with 49-foot-high waves, said Katie Greenwood, the head of the Pacific delegation for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which had two people aboard the vessel to help assess the damage.
“Very unfortunate information has come to light overnight about the three islands that we were really worried about — that they have all suffered devastating consequences as an effect of these incoming waves,” she told The Associated Press in an interview from Fiji. “Most of the structures and dwellings on those islands have been completely destroyed.”
The U.N.’s Dujarric said “all houses have apparently been destroyed on the island of Mango, and only two houses remain on Fonoifua island, with extensive damage reported on Nomuka.” He said evacuations are under way for people from the islands.
He said the most pressing humanitarian needs are safe water, food and non-food items, and top priorities are re-establishing communication services.
“The cleanup of the international airport continues, and it is hoped that it will be operational on Thursday,” Dujarric said.
Complicating matters is Tonga’s concern over COVID-19, which it has effectively kept outside its borders except for one case reported in a traveler from New Zealand in October.
Tonga is hoping for “almost contactless disaster relief” as a precaution, the Red Cross’ Greenwood said, acknowledging that this would complicate efforts.
“They really don’t want to exchange one disaster for another,” she said.
Some 60 percent of Tonga’s 106,000 people have already received two doses of a COVID vaccine, and nearly 70 percent have received at least one dose, according to Our World in Data.
In anticipation of the country’s needs, New Zealand has already sent two ships. One is carrying 66,000 gallons of water and a desalination plant with the capacity to produce 18,492 more gallons per day; another is bringing a survey and diving team to help assess the damage to shipping channels, ports and wharf infrastructure.
