Nafanua Harbour following the eruption of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai volcano. Photo / NZDF
Nafanua Harbour following the eruption of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai volcano. Photo / NZDF
EDITORIAL
A year after the Tongan volcano eruption and tsunami, the sheer size and global impact seems all the more remarkable.
The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai underwater volcano eruption on January 15, 2022 was the world’s largest explosion in 140 years, sending a 20m high tsunami crashing ashore.
The wave walltravelled more than 100km from the volcano at a speed of at least 500km/h.
A pressure shockwave sonic boom went around the planet. The eruption also produced 400,000 lightning events on the day.
The volcano shot ash and 146 million tonnes of water vapour 57km high, with implications for the earth’s climate. It has been tracked to space. Water vapour can trap heat on the Earth’s surface. Nasa said the volcano boosted total global water in the stratosphere by 10 per cent.
The toll in Tonga was fortunately low, with three deaths. The fact that the eruption and tsunami occurred during the day probably helped.
It happened at a bad time for the kingdom after a cyclone and with the various problems posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ultimately, behind the story of an incredibly powerful and destructive event is the story of a country and its people having to live with its ongoing impact. The scale of the destruction in Tonga, to quote a scientist who studied the disaster, was “mind-blowing” to see in the aftermath.
On land, 85 per cent of Tonga’s people were affected by the invading waters or ash from the volcano. Homes, fishing boats, schools, roads, water and power networks were damaged. Coral reefs were ruined and fish stocks were reduced.
The World Bank estimated the overall cost of damages and losses at US$182 million – or about 36.4 per cent of Tonga’s GDP. The United Nations estimated that Tonga’s fisheries and agriculture took a US$7.4m hit. Food production in some areas has since been able to recover.
People had to be relocated from the worst-hit areas to the main island of Tongatapu and into new homes. The tourism sector has been badly impaired.
Save the Children says the year has been difficult for the young, with children still displaced, afraid, and having faced disruptions to schooling. Hundreds remain in temporary housing and schools are still damaged.
There has also been psychological distress with fear of a new disaster occurring. Tonga has been struck by two tropical cyclones in recent years, Gita (2018) and Harold (2020).
Scientists now know just how devastating an underwater volcanic eruption can be. The Tongan eruption is being viewed as a wake-up call to monitor the threat of submarine volcanoes more closely.
Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai is one of a chain of volcanoes that make up the Tongan section of the Pacific Ring of Fire.
People outside Tonga cannot help but be shocked by the scientific scale of this unusually violent and impactful event, but those who live in the country are still having to deal with the mundane realities of the damage it wrought.
It is far from done, and support from New Zealand should likewise continue.
