According to the BBC, the Tonga government spoke out for the first time after suffering two consecutive days of volcanic eruptions, saying all the buildings on an island had been destroyed by the tsunami and saying it had suffered an "unprecedented disaster". According to CCTV News, this is the first statement issued by the Tongan government since the eruption of the volcano on Hong Aha Apai Island.
In its statement, the Tongan government confirmed that three people had died, including a 65-year-old woman living on Mango Island and a 49-year-old woman living on Nomuka Island who died in addition to a British woman identified earlier.
The statement said some of the smaller outlying islands had been more affected, with all houses destroyed on one island and only 2 houses left in the other.
At the same time, volcanic ash hampers external assistance.
Separately, Reuters also said that diplomats in Tonga said that one island was badly damaged and an entire village was destroyed.
Tonga volcano erupts, an island is almost gone?
About 65 kilometers north of Tonga's capital, Nuku'alofa, The island of Hong Aha Apay began erupting on the morning of January 14 and erupted again on the afternoon of 15 January. Volcanic eruptions cause large amounts of ash, gas and water vapor to enter the sky to form huge clouds, which erupt to a height of 20 kilometers.
This imposition photo shows a satellite image of Aha Apayee Island in Tongahun taken by the Worldview02 satellite on April 11, 2021 (left) and a satellite image of the island after the volcanic eruption taken by the Gaofen I satellite on January 17, 2022, with an orange curve showing the original outline of the island according to geographical coordinates.
This is a satellite image of Tongahun Aha Apai Island taken by the Worldview02 satellite on April 11, 2021.
This is a satellite image taken by the Gaofen-1 satellite after the eruption of the Aha Apai Island volcano in Tongahun on January 17.
This is a satellite image taken by the Gaofen-1 satellite on January 17 after the eruption of the Aha Apai Island volcano in Tongahun, and the orange curve is the original outline of the island marked according to geographical coordinates.
This is a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite image of Aha Apai Island in Tongahun taken by the Sentinel 1 satellite on January 4. The black part of the picture is the sea surface, and the white part is the island.
This is a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite image taken by sentinel 1 satellite after the eruption of the Aha Apay Island volcano in Tongahun on January 16. The black part of the picture is the sea surface, and the white part is the island.
This imposition photo shows a synthetic aperture radar (LEFT) satellite image of Aha Apay Island in Tongahun taken by sentinel 1 satellite on January 4 and a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite image of the island after a volcanic eruption taken by sentinel 1 satellite on January 16. The black part of the picture is the sea surface, and the white part is the island.
(Red Star News Comprehensive China News Network, CCTV News, Xinhua News Agency)