The submarine volcano in Tonga erupted last Saturday (15), which triggered a tsunami, destroyed a large number of houses and polluted water sources. The residents of the island are in urgent need of assistance. After many days' efforts, the volcanic ash and other debris covering the local main airport were cleared yesterday, which can resume the take-off and landing of aircraft and is expected to bring important air emergency supplies to the local area. However, considering that the Tongan government is worried about the introduction of COVID-19, the United Nations plans to launch remote disaster relief or not send personnel to the island. Two New Zealand warships carrying water and other materials will arrive tomorrow (2 1).
Jonathan Veitch, the United Nations coordinator in Fiji, told AFP on Wednesday that the airport runway on the main island of Tonga Tabu was once covered by volcanic ash with a thickness of 5 to 10 cm, which has been cleaned up. It is expected that rescue planes from Australia and New Zealand will be allowed to land from Thursday. He said the day before that the United Nations would carry out most of the relief work remotely because Tonga has a very strict zero-COVID-19 policy. He said that Tonga is one of the few countries in the world where COVID-19 has not broken out, and once it does, it will be a disaster. "Like many Pacific island countries, they are very cautious about opening their borders because diseases have broken out in the Pacific region in history." . According to the data of Our World, about 60% of Tonga's eligible population has been vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccine, which is lower than that of some neighboring countries such as Fiji. Wiki said that there are currently 23 personnel from the United Nations in Tonga, and there are other international non-governmental organizations to assist in the rescue.
The Tongan government has allowed two New Zealand warships carrying relief supplies to enter the area, and the relief supplies are expected to arrive on Friday. One of the warships carries 250,000 liters of water and other materials, and there is seawater desalination equipment on board, which can produce 70,000 liters of water every day. The Red Cross warned that local water sources have been polluted by volcanic ash and seawater, and cholera and other epidemics may occur, so safe water supply is the top priority now.
After the volcanic eruption, Tonga's only submarine cable broke and its external communication was almost interrupted. The latest estimate is that the repair will take four weeks. Digicel, an international mobile phone network provider, used the satellite signal receiver of the University of the South Pacific to set up a temporary communication system on the main island of Tonga, which enabled the local area to use the 2G network, but the connection was unstable and the capacity was only normal 10%.
In addition, Cao Xiaolin, China's ambassador to Tonga, said on Tuesday that more than 65,438+0,000 China citizens and employees on Tonga's main island are safe at present, but the situation in the outer islands is unknown. The above is the latest news about the rescue situation. If there is any follow-up news, it will be updated.