The United Nations: Will provide remote assistance to Tonga, fearing that the outbreak will lead to another round of disaster

Reuters news on January 19, the United Nations Pacific affairs coordinator Jonathan Veitch said that the United Nations is preparing to carry out a long-distance rescue operation in Tonga to avoid the outbreak of the new crown epidemic in the Pacific island country affected by volcanic eruptions and tsunamis.

Vecchi said the U.N. would conduct most of its operations remotely and would probably not send people to the islands of Tonga, "Tonga is one of the few countries without COVID-19, where an outbreak would be catastrophic." Like many Pacific island nations, Tonga is very cautious about opening its borders because of the Pacific's history of disease outbreaks that wiped out societies, Vecchi said.

In its first statement after the eruption triggered the tsunami, the Tonga government confirmed that three people were killed, two locals and one British national. The Government of Tonga noted that some of the smaller outlying islands had been particularly affected, with all houses on Mango Island destroyed, two houses left on Foroiva Island and Namuca Island also suffering severe damage.

The Tongan government has begun evacuating stranded residents in some of the outlying areas. The prime minister's office said in a statement late Tuesday that freshwater supplies, severely affected by volcanic ash, became a major problem. Ships carrying supplies such as fresh water and relief equipment have already departed from ports in Australia and New Zealand, but it will take at least 5 days to reach the tonga coast.

Cleaning up volcanic ash from the airport runway is a top priority for the Tonga government. The main Fua'amotu international airport was not damaged, but had to be manually cleaned of the ash.