Events and photos

Satellite images show massive damage in Tonga archipelago after volcanic eruption and tsunami

  • An image from space of the Tonga volcano during its eruption.

    AFP

  • Areas around the volcano site are covered with volcanic ash.

    Reuters

  • Volcano smoke as it extends to large parts of the island.

    AFP

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New satellite images were released yesterday, showing the devastation of the Tonga islands, with large areas covered in ash and dust, or destroyed by a tsunami, in what appears to be the Honga-Tonga-Hunga-Hapai volcano, which erupted on Saturday as almost completely submerged in the Pacific Ocean.

Three days after the eruption of the volcano that caused the tsunami and killed three people in Tonga, according to the United Nations, the extent of the damage is still unknown in this small kingdom of 100,000 people isolated from the world after the sea wire connecting it to the Internet was cut off.

The eruption of the volcano, which reverberated as far as Alaska, more than nine thousand kilometers away, was the largest recorded in recent decades, with the formation of a mass of smoke 30 kilometers high that dispersed ash, gas and acid rain in the Pacific region, and was immediately followed by a tsunami.

The Tonga government said in a statement, the day before yesterday, that waves 15 meters high had been recorded in the archipelago.

The capital, Nuku'alofa, whose residents fled to the heights, smashed into flooded homes while rocks and ash fell from the air.

The government said in a tweet that three people had died and several others were injured, describing the eruption of the volcano as an "unprecedented disaster".

Among the victims was a 50-year-old Briton, Angela Glover, who was swept away by the tsunami after trying to rescue the dogs of an animal shelter she runs.

Pictures published by "Maxar Technologies" show a large area of ​​water covering a large part of the site of the volcano, which was above sea level before its eruption.

• The eruption of the volcano, which reverberated as far as Alaska, more than nine thousand kilometers away, is the largest recorded in recent decades, with the formation of a mass of smoke 30 kilometers high that dispersed ash, gas and acid rain in the Pacific region.

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