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NUKU’ALOFA, Tonga (AFP) – The Tonga volcanic eruption unleashed explosive forces that dwarfed the power of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, NASA scientists have said, as survivors on Monday described how the devastating Pacific blast “messed up our brains”. The NASA Earth Observatory said the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano spewed debris as high as 40 kilometres (25 miles) into the atmosphere during the January 15 eruption that triggered huge tsunami waves. “We think the amount of […]
by Maddison Connaughton Agence France-Presse SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) – Tonga’s volcanic eruption felt like an “atomic bomb” that shook “the whole island”, an aid worker told AFP on Friday, as the Pacific nation raced to address a drinking water shortage. Almost a week after the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano exploded, unleashing a tsunami and cutting Tonga off from the rest of the world, witnesses are recounting the disaster. On Tongatapu, Tonga’s main island, “we felt a […]
by Marion DOUET Agence France-Presse LAKE KIVU, Rwanda (AFP) – The engineers aboard the floating power station on Lake Kivu could only watch nervously as the volcano in the distance erupted violently, sending tremors rumbling through the water beneath them. It was not the lava shooting from Mount Nyiragongo last May that spooked them, but the enormous concentrations of potentially explosive gases within Kivu, one of Africa’s great Rift lakes lying between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic […]
LIMA, Peru (AFP) – Peru demanded compensation Wednesday from Spanish energy giant Repsol over an oil spill caused by freak waves from a volcanic eruption near Tonga in the South Pacific. Authorities sealed off three beaches on Monday after 6,000 barrels of oil were spilled during the offloading of a tanker at the Pampilla refinery off the coast near Lima. The Repsol oil spill “is the worst ecological disaster in Lima in recent times, and […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — A rare volcano-triggered tsunami sparked by the eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai in Tonga could have been caused by shock waves or shifting underwater land, experts said Monday. “A volcanic-source tsunami event is rare but not unprecedented,” a post on the website for New Zealand’s geological hazard monitoring system GNS said Monday. GNS Tsunami Duty Officer Jonathan Hanson said it probably occurred in part thanks to a previous eruption of the […]
by Carlos MANDUJANO Agence France-Presse LIMA, Peru (AFP) – Peruvian authorities sealed off three beaches Monday after they were hit by an oil spill blamed on freak waves caused by the volcanic eruption in Tonga. The Pampilla Refinery, part of the Spanish company Repsol, said there had been a “limited spill” of oil off the coast of Callao and Ventanilla districts near Lima Saturday due to the violent waves produced by the eruption on the […]
by David WILLIAMS / Andrew BEATTY SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — The first death from a massive underwater volcanic blast near the Pacific island nation of Tonga has been confirmed, as the extent of the damage remained unknown Monday. Tonga remained virtually cut off from the rest of the world, after the eruption crippled communications and stalled emergency relief efforts. It is two days since the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano exploded, cloaking Tonga in a film […]
by David WILLIAMS / Andrew BEATTY SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — The Pacific Island nation of Tonga was virtually cut off from the rest of the world Monday, after a massive volcanic blast that crippled communications and stalled emergency relief efforts. It is two days since the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano exploded, cloaking Tonga in a film of ash, triggering a Pacific-wide tsunami and releasing shock waves that wrapped around the entire Earth. But with phone […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) – Tonga was virtually cut off from the rest of the world Monday after a massive volcanic blast that crippled communications with the Pacific island nation, and experts warned internet connection may not be fully restored for weeks. It is two days since the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haa’pai volcano exploded, cloaking Tonga in ash, triggering a Pacific-wide tsunami and releasing shock waves that wrapped around the entire Earth. But still neighbouring countries and […]
LIMA, Peru (AFP) – Two women drowned on a beach in northern Peru due to “anomalous waves” registered after the volcanic eruption in Tonga, more than 10,000 kilometers away, local emergency services said on Sunday. The two women drowned on Saturday in Lambayeque. Peru’s government on Saturday closed 22 Pacific ports in the country’s north and center due to the waves. The Center for national emergency operations said the unusually strong waves were “due to […]
A massive volcanic eruption in Tonga that triggered tsunami waves around the Pacific caused “significant damage” to the island nation’s capital and smothered it in dust, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Sunday. The eruption Saturday was so powerful it was recorded around the world, triggering a tsunami that flooded Pacific coastlines from Japan to the United States. The capital Nuku’alofa suffered “significant” damage, Ardern said, adding there had been no reports of injury […]
by Alfred Acenas and Arianne Torres (EBC Hawaii-Pacific) HONOLULU (Eagle News) – A powerful underwater volcanic eruption and 7.6-magnitude earthquake shook the Tonga Islands at 4:26am local time on Saturday, January 15. A tsunami warning was soon issued for all of Tonga by the island nation’s meteorological services agency. Local resident Dr. Faka’iloatonga Taumoefolau took to social media to post photographs of the volcano’s violent eruption and waves crashing ashore. He also described the […]
