On January 17, a volcano in Tonga erupted and triggered a tsunami, and Zhu Jianxiong, a Guangzhou man working locally, disappeared for two days.
On the afternoon of the 17th, Zhu Jianxiong's wife received a satellite phone call from the staff of the Chinese Embassy in Tonga, who said that Zhu Jianxiong was safe and sound.
At about 6 p.m. on the 17th, the mobile phone of Zhu Jianxiong's wife, Ms. Li, made two consecutive calls, but Ms. Li saw that the mobile phone showed that it was a landline phone that began with 010, and it also showed that it was a harassing call, and she did not dare to answer it until the second time the same phone came, and she picked up the mobile phone.
"The other party asked me if I was Zhu Jianxiong's wife, and also said my full name, told me that I had contacted my husband, and said that the satellite phone call was made, and the signal could be interrupted at any time." Ms. Li said she realized it was a satellite phone call from staff at the mainland embassy in Tonga. She also heard embassy staff say on the phone: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs knows that you care deeply about your husband, and we have not yet contacted our families." Ms. Li replied: "You must report to your family that you are safe, they are very worried about you." ”
After hanging up the phone, Ms. Li immediately told the other family members the news. "I still can't believe it, is it really the embassy that called me?" I'm still asking my relatives to check the phone. Ms. Li laughed and laughed and cried.
Ms. Li said that in the past few days, she has been worried about the safety of her husband Zhu Jianxiong and has not slept for two days and two nights. "I'll go to sleep now, as long as he's there I'll be relieved."
The Chinese Embassy in Tonga reported that about 1,000 overseas Chinese were safe
According to the news released by the Weibo account of the China Overseas Chinese Network, on the afternoon of January 17, the Consular Protection Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs contacted the Chinese Embassy in Tonga to learn about the local disaster situation in Tonga and the latest situation of overseas Chinese compatriots, except for a few people who were slightly injured, no Chinese citizens died.
After the Tongan Tsunami Source: CNN
Consul Zhang of the Embassy in Tonga said that there are currently about 1,000 overseas Chinese in Tonga, and there are 6 Chinese-funded enterprises. So far, no Chinese citizens have died on the main island of Tonga, and a few Chinese citizens have been slightly injured. Poor communications on the outer islands could not be understood, and the Embassy was actively verifying it. After visiting the embassy, it was learned that some overseas Chinese houses and goods in the coastal area of Tonga were damaged, and the farms of overseas Chinese engaged in agricultural cultivation were covered with volcanic ash. Because the International Internet in Tonga is seriously damaged, many overseas Chinese are unable to contact their families, and the Tonga Chinese Federation is also reporting peace to overseas Chinese through WeChat groups, please rest assured by the people of the motherland.
Experts of the Great Land: The saying "once in a thousand years" is a bit exaggerated
Volcanic eruption in Tonga (Source: CNN)
Volcanic eruptions are powerful, but the "once in a thousand years" is a bit of an exaggeration
Following the violent eruption of Tonga's undersea volcano on January 14, the Pacific island nation has attracted global attention. Tsunami waves from volcanic eruptions affected many countries such as Japan, New Zealand, and the United States around the Pacific Rim. Japanese media said that the power of this volcanic eruption is equal to 1,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs.
Some New Zealand scientists also said that this volcanic eruption can be described as a "once in a thousand years" in history. In this regard, Yu Wenchao, associate professor of the School of Earth Sciences of China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), interpreted that like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions also have intensity levels, and the largest known eruption since the 19th century was the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia in 1815, with an intensity of 7, and the eruption of the Hongga Hapay seabed volcano was about 6, which was indeed powerful, but "once in a millennium" is still an exaggeration.
And Tonga will have such a strong volcanic eruption this time, Yu Wenchao explained that Tonga is located in the Pacific Rim region, this area plate movement is very frequent, Tonga is located in the subduction belt of the plate, when the subduction is slower, the plate subduction movement force may accumulate, the accumulated energy erupts in an instant, so the power is very large.
After the eruption, many netizens raised questions, and some felt that the area of Tonga would increase after the eruption; but some netizens compared the satellite pictures before and after the eruption of the Tonga volcano and felt that the island where the crater was located seemed to "disappear" from the map. Yu Wenchao believes that because the island is located on the crater, the crater has been blown up, and the land area of the island should also be greatly reduced, but it is not excluded that pyroclastic material is thrown out to form a new area, but the available space of these areas is not large.
In the short term, it will have little impact on China, and it may cause agricultural losses in the long run
Satellite images after volcanic eruptions (Source: CNN)
What impact will Tonga's volcanic eruption be so violent on the world, especially China?
Yu Wenchao believes that in the short term, the impact of the volcanic eruption on China is relatively small, but in the long run, it may cause an increase in rainfall in the future, and if it leads to a decrease in temperature, it will also cause agricultural losses.
He mentioned that in general, if the volcanic eruption intensity is not strong, the gas and dust spewed by the volcano will be limited to the troposphere, but once the volcanic eruption intensity is too large, the volcanic eruption and projectile clastic material are too high, puncturing the troposphere, entering the stratosphere, it will stay in it for a long time, and the volcanic eruption also contains chemicals such as hydrogen sulfide, which will become sulfates, and then become aerosols, and the dust and aerosols will cause the albedo of the earth to rise, that is, more sunlight is reflected back into space. This will cause the Earth to absorb less solar energy, and the global climate may be affected.
Regarding the suggestion on the Internet that volcanic eruptions may cause lower temperatures, Yu Wenchao said: "After the volcanic eruption in Indonesia in 1815, the summer climate in 1816 became more abnormal, which has been recorded in North America, Europe and China. In June 1991, the Philippines' Pinatobo volcano erupted violently, directly causing the global temperature to drop by an average of 0.5 degrees that year, but the Tonga volcano will cause the temperature to drop this summer, which will not have a concrete result until this autumn. ”
Yu Wenchao also introduced that although the material emitted by the volcano is harmful, most of the subsidence will occur in the future as the dust radiates to the global scale, and the possibility of the human body being affected by volcanic dust will not be particularly large.
According to previous reports, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and other countries have issued tsunami warnings affected by volcanic eruptions, so will there be major tsunamis in other countries in the future?
Yu Wenchao said that if the eruption of Mount Tonga No. 15 has released all the accumulated energy, then it will not have a particularly obvious impact afterwards, but if there is an eruption of similar magnitude after that, it may still cause a tsunami.
However, from the current situation, the tsunami mechanism caused by the volcanic eruption is mainly based on the movement of seawater, and the process of seawater transmission is a process of energy attenuation. Even if the shock wave reached Japan or China, it would not cause a strong tsunami.
There should be warning before the eruption, but the rescue is likely to encounter great challenges
Sadly, according to media reports, after the eruption of the volcano, Tonga's communication signal was immediately interrupted, and the casualties on the island are still unknown. In this regard, Yu Wenchao introduced, usually there will be some precursors to volcanic activity, volcanoes can often detect obvious geothermal anomalies, crater steam eruptions and other phenomena before the eruption, and the time lasts for a long time, especially in countries with frequent volcanic activity, the local early warning mechanism is often more mature, the Geological Bureau or emergency department will issue an alarm in advance, and the evacuation time is relatively abundant.
However, judging from the local videos of Tonga currently circulating on the Internet, Yu Wenchao believes that Tonga is currently facing several major challenges. First, due to the tsunami caused by volcanic eruptions, seawater has already invaded the land of the island, which may cause flooding disasters; second, due to volcanic bursting eruptions, the ejected volcanic debris is very dangerous for residents; third, the concentration of toxic and harmful gases such as hydrogen sulfide that erupts is too high, which may also pose a threat to the safety of local residents' lives and property.
But what is bad at the moment is the information disruption, the current situation in Tonga is very uncertain, the international rescue forces are currently difficult to contact the Tongan government, and the rescue may be greatly challenged.
Jimu news reporter Liu Qin Zhang Yang Song Qingying
Source: Jimu News