The volcanic eruption in Tonga touched the hearts of people around the world.
On the evening of January 15, an undersea volcano, 65 kilometers from the capital of Tonga, erupted with a large amount of magma.
The sound of the eruption can be heard even by New Zealanders 2,400 kilometres away.
The ensuing tsunami swept across the globe, with waves circling the globe twice, killing two people in Peru and nearly 230,000 people in Need of Refuge in Japan.
No one knows the specifics of Tonga, the epicenter of the disaster.
A few hours after the eruption, an important communications cable was destroyed at the bottom of the sea, Tongans were unable to access and talk, and the whole country was lost.
It is this lack of information that is the most frightening and makes one can't help but make bad guesses.
Thankfully, after anxiously waiting for a few days, the first photos of Tonga finally appeared!
The photos are taken from aerial photographs of New Zealand surveillance aircraft, as well as satellite photographs from the United Nations.
In the photo, the island of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai, which erupted with magma, can be seen largely disappearing.
This image was taken before the eruption and shows the crater and plant-covered land.
But now, with the exception of the two highest parts of the island, the rest of the area is completely submerged by the sea.
In addition to Hunga Island, some small outlying islands were submerged, and the west coast of Tongatapu Island, the largest island, was badly damaged.
The otherwise bright streets, buildings and forests have lost their color and are shrouded in volcanic ash.
Part of the buildings in Nuku'alofa, the capital of Tonga, were destroyed and the sea washed away the houses.
(before)
(after)
On the north side of Tongatapu Island, facing the volcano, the main street was hit by tsunamis and volcanic ash.
(before)
On the southern coast, houses on the entire street collapsed.
On a small island near Tongatapu Island, all the houses were flooded with water and ash.
The airport runway on Tongatapu Island was also covered with thick ash, preventing New Zealand planes from landing.
Tongatapu Is in good shape, and the photos of other islands look even more shocking.
This is a photo taken on the island of Uleva last April.
This is a photo from the day before yesterday.
Photo of Yoha Island last April.
As it is now.
This is a before-and-after comparison of Nomuca Island.
There are 173 islands in Tonga, and so on.
At about 19:00 Beijing time tonight, the Tonga government finally issued its first external statement, saying that remote islands have been particularly affected.
All the houses on one of the islands were destroyed, and the other had only two houses left unsupplexed.
An estimated 80,000 people of the Red Cross , 76 percent of the country ' population – were affected by tsunamis and volcanic eruptions and were unable to live normally.
Peter Lund, a senior New Zealand official in Tonga, said the scenery now looked like "the surface of the moon" because of the thick layer of volcanic ash everywhere.
This is also what the Red Cross is most worried about.
Because volcanic ash is corrosive, it can easily pollute water sources and affect local water quality and agriculture. It can also form acid rain, which can cause burns when it falls on people, and direct inhalation of volcanic ash can also damage people's lungs.
The Red Cross contacted the Tonga government and told them that people must drink bottled water, wear masks at all times, and never touch tap water.
But bottled water is also limited, and New Zealand has sent two warships to deliver water and other aid supplies that will arrive in a few days.
The faster way, of course, is to fly directly to the plane, but the runway at Fuamotu International Airport is covered in volcanic ash, which can cause the engines to heat up, lose control and be extremely dangerous if the planes venture to land.
According to frontline correspondent Barbara Dreaver, more than 200 Tongans managed to clear the 100-meter runway, but there was still a big gap from the 2.5-kilometer target.
The casualty situation of greatest concern to people, because communications have not been fully restored, is currently very limited to what is known.
It can only be said that it is not as bad as everyone thinks.
At present, Tonga has officially reported only 3 deaths, including a 65-year-old Tongan woman, a 49-year-old Tongan man, and a 50-year-old British woman, Angela Glover.
Angela was the only one to identify the dead, and when her family found the body, they told the media directly.
Angela is from Brighton, England, and after marrying her husband, she settled in Tonga.
She has established an animal welfare association called Taws here, mainly to find shelter for stray dogs, and she has adopted 5 of them.
When the tsunami hit, Angela and her husband went home to try to take the dog away, but the waves came too quickly, and in order to save a dog, Angela was swept away by the water, and the husband survived holding a tree.
A few days later, he found her body.
It's a sad story, and fortunately, not much like this happens.
Katie Greenwood, coordinator of the Red Cross, said the overall damage was not as severe as people thought from the reports collected so far.
"We believe that, from the information we have so far compiled, the situation in these population centers is not as devastating as we initially feared." This is indeed good news. ”
Most of the villages shared by journalist Barbara Dreyfer were also low-affected and had no obvious casualties.
Now, the top priority of aid agencies and the Tongan government is to deliver water and repair satellite phones.
As has been said about sending water, the satellite phone is repaired because it is the only way to contact the outside world without relying on submarine cables.
The cable company said it would take at least two weeks for the damaged cable to be repaired, and anxious Tongans could not wait that long and had to opt for a satellite phone with a poor signal but at least working.
Fatafehi Fakafanua, president of Tonga's parliament, said the current satellite equipment was somewhat damaged and planned to find Australian transport of repair tools and technicians to fix it as soon as possible.
After ensuring that the government can make a smooth call, it also allows people to contact their families overseas.
During the rescue process, the Red Cross also constantly reminded rescuers to maintain epidemic prevention. Tonga did not have its first case of COVID-19 until last October, an influx of outsiders that could have caused the outbreak to spread across the island.
Tonga now looks calm, does that mean that the disaster is over?
The answer is, not necessarily, that the volcano may still erupt.
Shane Cronin, a professor of volcanology at the University of Auckland, said the eruption was "on schedule". By testing the ash, he found that large volcanic eruptions occur here every 1,000 years, most recently in 1100 AD.
January 15 was a major eruption, after which Hunga Island erupted in volcanic activity for weeks or even years.
Even regardless of the small eruptions, the large eruptions may continue, as he cannot be sure whether Hunga Island has passed the peak eruption. That said, there may be a more violent situation in the future than on January 15.
On Twitter, Cronin reminded the rescue team to be more careful, believing that the volcano's condition was not stable.
This truth, the rescue team should also understand, but in order to save people, can only risk the past.
Many people compare the volcanic eruption in Tonga with the Mount Tambora eruption in Indonesia in 1815, believing that this eruption may allow the recurrence of the "summerless year" and thus reduce global temperatures.
In 1815, about 150 cubic kilometers of volcanic ash erupted into the stratosphere of the atmosphere, causing the global average temperature to drop by 3 degrees Celsius the following year.
Climate anomalies have arisen in the Americas, Europe and Asia, with heavy snowstorms in June, rivers freezing, and even freezing to death.
Crops also frosted in the summer, food shortages around the world, and famine in Yunnan.
This was a terrible thing at the time, but now some "smart people" have proposed that since the earth is warming now, it is advantageous for volcanic eruptions to cool down.
Most scientists say this is impossible.
Climatologist Jim Salinger said the eruption in Tonga sent 0.4 megatons of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, a large number that would not affect the global climate, only the local climate.
"In the next two months, we may see a spectacular sunset, and that's because the sulfuric acid mist is slowly falling from the stratosphere. But I expect that the cooling in our area will be at most a few tenths of a degree. ”
James Renwick, a climatologist at the University of Victoria, agrees.
He argues that volcanic ash reduces light in specific areas of the tropics, but has no impact on the global climate.
Because Tonga's volcanoes may still be ongoing, the eruption index VEI has not yet been produced. Scientists, including Sean Cronin, predict an outbreak index of about 5, while Mount Tambora has an outbreak index of 7.
This volcanic eruption, it will not be the end of mankind, nor will it be a cure for global warming,
It's more of a callous, once-in-a-lifetime time bomb in 1,000 years.
Of course, for the people of Tongan, it is a flying disaster that destroys families, careers and dreams.
Hopefully, there won't be a major volcanic eruption after that, so at least let the rescue operation continue in peace...