"Isolation from the rest of the world"! The eruption of a volcano in Tonga caused the cable to be cut, and the king summoned soldiers from all over the country to rescue themselves

Source: Global Times

Last weekend, an undersea volcano in Tonga, a South Pacific island nation, erupted violently, triggering a tsunami that affected the entire Pacific coast. According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported on the 17th, affected by the eruption of the submarine volcano, the submarine cable in Tonga was cut off, and network communication with the outside world may take two weeks to fully recover. Australia and New Zealand both sent reconnaissance planes to the local area to investigate the disaster on the 17th. In the case of unstable power and communications, the outside world is not aware of the damage caused by the disaster in Tonga, and many media have said that the country is currently "isolated from the world". Officials in Tonga say the country's domestic communications have largely resumed, while it will take at least a week externally.

The undersea volcano of Hong Aha Apai Island in Tonga lasted for 8 minutes on the 15th, causing strong shock waves in the ocean and atmosphere, and tsunami warnings were issued in the Pacific Rim, and significant surges were observed in New Zealand, Australia and Japan, the west coast of the United States, and other places, and small fluctuations in air pressure were observed in China, the western United States and South America. The ash cloud that erupted at the moment of the eruption formed an umbrella-shaped cloud with a diameter of nearly 500 kilometers.

According to new Zealand media Stuff News Network reported on the 17th, Tonga was affected by the violent eruption of the volcano and the disconnected cable connecting Tonga and Fiji, carrying most of the Internet and telephone traffic to and from Tonga. According to the person in charge of the communication company, the cable maintenance process takes at least 1-2 weeks. When the cable stops working, the satellite can do some communication work. New Zealand Foreign Minister Mahuta said on the 17th that Tonga's capital Nuku'alofa has restored 80% of the electricity, but the network is still interrupted.

New Zealand Prime Minister Ardern said New Zealand officials had contacted the Office of the New Zealand High Commissioner in Tonga via satellite phone. Heavy losses were learned in parts of Nuku'alofa, although no casualties have been reported for the time being. Ardern stressed that fresh water may become a much-needed item for local residents of Tonga as volcanic ash pollutes water sources.

According to the BBC, according to the New Zealand government's preliminary understanding of the disaster situation, Tonga needs drinking water and water storage equipment most, as well as food and medical supplies.

In Peru, more than 10,000 kilometers from Tonga, the local National Emergency Operations Center said on the 16th that due to the continuous "abnormal wave" caused by the volcanic eruption, two women drowned on a beach in Lambayek, in the north of the country. The day before, Peru had closed 22 ports as a precautionary measure. Police rescued 23 people along the coast.

The New Zealand High Commissioner in Tonga said the damage was mainly concentrated on the west coast of Tonga and the Nuku'alofa waterfront area, where there are many resorts and thick layers of volcanic ash.

New Zealand National Radio (RNZ) reported on the 17th that the whole territory of Tonga is covered with volcanic ash, like a lunar landscape, and the authorities call on the public to drink bottled water and wear masks to avoid inhaling volcanic ash.

At present, volcanic ash over parts of Tonga has subsided, but there are still large amounts of volcanic ash floating in the air, as far as Australia. Fiji's environment department warned on the 17th that satellite data show that the concentration of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere of Tonga and neighboring countries is increased, which may lead to acid rain.

According to Reuters reported on the 17th, with the slight improvement of atmospheric conditions, the New Zealand Ministry of Defense said on the same day that it had sent a plane to Tonga to investigate the affected situation. The plane will not land in Tonga and will return the same day. The New Zealand Ministry of Defence also said that another aircraft will be dispatched to Tonga on the 18th to deliver relief supplies.

Australia also sent aircraft to the eruption area of Tonga volcano on the 17th to inspect the damage. Australian officials said preliminary reports showed no mass casualties in Tonga and that the country's airports were in "seemingly good condition" but that roads and bridges were "badly damaged". Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said ash clouds had hampered rescue efforts.

After the eruption and tsunami cut off Tonga's connection with the outside world, tongans overseas anxiously awaited news from their loved ones. According to Agence France-Presse reported on the 17th, Tongan-New Zealand journalist Moturallo said, "The worst thing is that we don't know anything about the situation in Tonga." My hometown is close to a flooded area, and now communications are disrupted, and I don't know how big the damage was. ”

Tonga Olympic standard-bearer Pita Tauffatofa, who currently lives in Australia, said on social media on the 16th that he was anxious not to receive news from his father and family. Pitta Tauffatofa said an undersea volcanic eruption would affect his family's drinking water. "In Tonga, our drinking water relies on rainwater, which falls to the roof and then flows into rainwater tanks, and if the roof is covered with volcanic ash, then the drinking water is toxic."

According to the Washington Post reported on the 17th, Pitta Tauffatofa said that the latest situation he learned was that the King of Tonga has summoned all the reservists and armed forces to prepare for disaster relief.

It was previously reported that after the waves poured into the capital of Tonga, people fled to the heights, and King Tupou VI of Tonga was hastily evacuated from the palace to safety.

Curtis Tuiharan kinji, deputy head of Tonga's mission in Australia, said on the 17th that he hoped that all walks of life would "wait patiently" before the Tongan government decided on aid priorities - since no new crown infection cases have been found in Tonga, Tonga is worried that aid may spread the new crown virus to the island, "We do not want to set off another wave - the new crown tsunami."

In an interview with RNZ, New Zealand volcanologist Cronin said the submarine eruption in Tonga was the largest since the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991. For the impact of this rare volcanic eruption on the climate, some netizens said that it may lead to global cold, and even the emergence of a "summerless year". The Global Times reporter interviewed experts on this issue. Wei Ke, an associate researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said on the 17th that the "year without summer" in history specifically refers to 1816, when the global temperature was unusually low, Europe and the United States called it "the year without summer", the cold made the crop harvest of that year basically hopeless, from Britain, Ireland, Wales to Germany, everywhere are disaster refugees and beggars, social unrest. The perpetrators of this disaster were the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia in 1815, the largest volcanic eruption on record. The natural disaster killed 71,000 people in Southeast Asia, of which 11,000-12,000 died directly from volcanic eruptions and the rest from famine and disease. Thousands of miles away in Europe, famine killed more than 200,000 people. According to Weike, from the current eruption of Tonga volcano, the intensity and scale of the eruption is much smaller than the eruption of Tambora Volcano that year, and the eruption is only about 1/100 of Tambora Volcano, as long as there is no larger eruption in the later stage, the climate in 2022 will not be much affected.