British media recently contacted a British citizen living in Tonga, who happened to be on an island near the incident when the submarine volcano erupted on the 15th. He told reporters what he saw and felt when the disaster occurred.
British Witness Kodrick: On Saturday afternoon (15th), as soon as I stepped on my boat, I heard the first loud noise, accompanied by an explosion, like a bomb exploding nearby, and I knew that there was a disaster.
British witness Kodrick: We know it's a volcanic eruption, but we're amazed at the power of the shaking building. Our buildings here are shaking, and we don't know exactly how bad a disaster has been, but we know we should stay away from the coast. Then we carried the things to the car, carried the animals to the car, and drove the car to a high place.
Kodrick: We observed for about 40 minutes, thinking that the tsunami had passed, and then we came down from a high place and found that the bridge that we had passed when we came had been partially submerged.
Source: CCTV News Client