Heavy rain hit Tonga's main island today as the Pacific Island Forum was officially opened. Photo / Adam Pearse
Heavy rain hit Tonga's main island today as the Pacific Island Forum was officially opened. Photo / Adam Pearse
Communications are down on the Tongan island Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will stay at overnight this week thanks to a significant earthquake that almost triggered the tsunami siren.
The prolonged shaking added to a day of heavy rain Pacific Island Forum attendees endured today on Tonga’s main island, Tongatapu, leading to surface flooding, leaks within the forum’s opening ceremony venue and even making it difficult for Foreign Minister Winston Peters to hear what was said in one of his meetings.
Peters today indicated his support for Tokelau, a territory of New Zealand, to become a full member of the forum, while also seeking to address the United Nations Secretary-General’s criticism of Governments like New Zealand enabling more oil and gas mining.
The 6.9 magnitude earthquake occurred just after midday and shaking continued for at least one minute.
According to the Tongan Meteorological Service, it was more than 100km deep and about 20km south of the Ha’apai group of islands, which are about 180km roughly north of Tongatapu.
Vava’u is a group of islands further north from Ha’apai. On Thursday, Pacific leaders including Luxon are set to travel to Vava’u for an overnight stay as part of the forum’s leaders’ retreat.
In a social media post about 2pm, the Vava’u Volunteer Maritime Response Association said all communications were down in Vava’u following the earthquake.
“This includes landlines, mobile services, and Digicel/TCC Internet services,” the post read.
“As requested, emergency announcements and general information provided to [the association social media page] from the various Ministries of Tonga will be relayed on VHF Channel 26.”
It was unclear what impact that could have on the retreat. The forum hadn’t announced any confirmed changes as of Monday night.
At the time of the earthquake, Peters and travelling journalists were attending the launch of a New Zealand-funded weather radar facility – one part of an event canvassing Tonga’s disaster preparedness.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Foreign Minister Winston Peters admire Tonga's new weather radar, funded by NZ, while at the Pacific Islands Forum. Photo / Adam Pearse
Despite the strength of the shake, the island’s tsunami siren warning wasn’t engaged.
Tonga Meteorological Service acting director Laitia Fifita explained the siren wasn’t used unless an earthquake registered at or above 7.1 and was less than 10km deep.
He added there were circumstances the siren was sounded when that criteria wasn’t met, such as if the quake caused violent shaking that threw people off balance. That didn’t occur on this occasion.
With climate change and the vulnerability of Pacific nations a key issue at the forum, Fifita said the quake was uniquely timed.
“First of all, I would say, it will be a good experience for all the Pacific leaders to actually feel that experience,” he said.
“But also on the downside of things, it will disrupt the normalities and the schedules of the planning for the forum.”
Fifita clarified emergency drills had been regular leading up to the forum. He said such a shake was rare, particularly in contrast to Wellington where, he felt, there were shakes “like every single day”.
Heavy rain throughout the day caused surface flooding in Tonga during the opening of the Pacific Islands Forum. Photo / Adam Pearse
If an earthquake wasn’t enough, Tongan locals and the roughly 1500 visitors for the forum faced stormy conditions with steady and at times heavy rain lasting throughout the day.
About 60 millimetres had fallen between 12am and 1pm, according to Fifita.
It led to surface flooding on the roads and around the Tonga High School indoor stadium, where the forum’s opening ceremony was held earlier this morning.
The stadium, built with financial aid from China, sprang a few leaks as the rain fell. According to locals, the stadium had finished construction only days before the forum and had been rushed, leading to imperfect or incomplete sections.
Tonga High School indoor stadium hosted the opening ceremony of the Pacific Island Forum today. Photo / Adam Pearse
Fifita was one of several Tongan officials who had gathered to celebrate the launch of the weather radar, designed to give Tonga the ability to warn communities early ahead of severe weather events.
The $4 million radar at Tonga’s main airport, paid for by New Zealand and built with help from MetService, could scan up to 460km from the island for bad weather.
Fifita said the radar filled a gap where global weather models didn’t pick up or couldn’t accurately predict the movement of smaller weather systems.
“Having this radar, one of its benefits, we are able to pick [up] small systems, quick, severe but very short time.”
He pointed to how a tornado that hit the island during the 2017/18 tropical cyclone season hadn’t been picked up by global monitoring systems because it was too small and quick.
There were productivity benefits as well, given Air New Zealand sometimes wouldn’t fly into Tonga if the weather was poor without the assurance this radar would now provide.
Tonga Meteorological Service acting director Laitia Fifita shows the features of the NZ-funded weather radar during the Pacific Islands Forum. Photo / Adam Pearse
It would also give fruit and vegetable growers a more reliable forecast for harvesting.
Fifita’s remaining concern was the ongoing maintenance and funding of the radar. The facility was supported for the next five years but despite the labour and resource struggles felt across the Pacific, Fifita was hopeful five years was enough to find the necessary funding in the Tongan Government’s regular budget.
MetService chief executive Stephen Hunt, who was in Tonga for the launch, promised the agency would ensure the radar facility was maintained.
“We don’t just drop off some of equipment, we will be accountable for it with Tonga for its life.”
He said the radar had been designed and built in less than a year, indicating how it could replicated across the Pacific.
NZ indicates support for Tokelau to become full forum member
In his daily media stand-up, Peters indicated New Zealand would support Tokelau – a New Zealand territory – in becoming a full member of the forum.
He acknowledged Tokelau had broached the subject in a bilateral meeting this morning and while he accepted he was generally supportive, he would wait to speak with forum members before addressing it.
“Tokelau has spoken to us. We’ve said, ‘Look, we’ll – alongside other countries – look at that, but it’s the Pacific way to discuss these things together rather than go off and individually all announce what we think.
“We’d rather get alongside the other Pacific forum countries and say, ‘What do you think’, and then collectively, all 18 of us, make a decision rather than shoot off our mouths without asking our colleagues first.”
He pointed to the significant cost associated with attending the forum as a matter yet to be traversed.
Peters fires back after UN boss’ rebuke over oil and gas mining
Peters believed there was no need for alarm following United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ condemnation of Governments that were signing new oil and gas licences, saying they were “signing away our future”.
The coalition Government had promised to reverse the 2018 ban on oil and gas exploration, with legislation to that effect expected to hit Parliament this year, in the face of fervent opposition from environmental and climate advocacy groups.
Last week, Guterres met with Luxon but didn’t discuss the ban reversal. On Saturday, he told journalists he was confident any oil and gas mined wouldn’t even be used.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses Pacific leaders at the opening ceremony of the Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga. Photo / Adam Pearse
Peters strongly defended the policy, citing New Zealand’s currently soaring power prices partly due to poor supply and low output from regenerative sources.
He said New Zealand was in a transition to more environmentally friendly power sources and remained committed to its emission targets.
“You’re not signing away your future if you’re going through a transition,” he said.
“So let’s not have any alarmism going on on the basis of some comment that the Secretary-General might have made.”
Sorry, you’ll need to speak a little louder Prime Minister!
Today’s rain caused a little bit of an issue for New Zealand’s Foreign Minister when it became so heavy Peters couldn’t hear what was being said in one of his meetings.
During the Polynesian leaders’ group meeting chaired by Niue Prime Minister Dalton Tagelagi, Peters was seated towards the end of the room and later conceded he’d heard “about a third of it”.
“We had a bit of a difficulty, it was raining so loud we couldn’t hear,” Peters told reporters.
“I think I must have only heard about a third of it.”
Peters, reassured he’d receive a report later in the day with the contents of the meeting, believed the central outcome was leaders agreeing to do more work in the region at a faster pace.
Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.
