The tsunami caused by the powerful eruption of an underwater volcano in the Tonga Islands in the South Pacific has caused significant damage but no casualties, according to New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Sunday January 16. 

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) clarified at 0300 GMT that the tidal wave threat had "generally passed" for countries bordering the ocean, although slight changes in level from the sea remain possible for a few hours.

"The tsunami had a significant impact on the northern coastline of Nuku'alofa", the capital of the Tonga islands, "with boats and large rocks washed ashore", but no casualties were reported, Jacinda said. Ardern.

She added that the extent of the damage was difficult to assess in the small Pacific kingdom as communications were cut off.

Contamination of drinking water

"Nuku'alofa [the capital] is covered in a thick cloud of volcanic ash, but otherwise the situation is calm and stable," the prime minister added after contacting her country's embassy in Tonga.

Tonga needs a water supply, she added, because "the ash cloud has caused contamination."

New Zealand will send a military reconnaissance aircraft to fly over the area on Monday if the volcanic ash cloud permits.

The New Zealand Prime Minister said there was "no significant eruption underway" and the ash had stopped falling. 

Stunning views from space showed the timing of Friday's eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai, on one of Tonga's uninhabited islands: a huge mushroom of smoke and ash, and a wave immediately unleashed.

Waves of 1.2 meters swept through Tonga's capital, where residents said they fled to higher ground, leaving behind flooded homes as rocks and ash fell from the sky.

A shock wave heard as far as Alaska

The eruption triggered tsunamis in the Pacific, with waves of 1.74 meters measured in Chanaral, Chile, more than 10,000 kilometers away, and smaller waves observed along the Pacific coast, the Alaska to Mexico.

Waves of about 1.2 meters hit the Pacific coast of Japan.

In California, the city of Santa Cruz was hit by flooding from a tidal wave generated by the tsunami, according to videos shared by the US National Weather Service. 

Peru, where "abnormal waves" have been observed, according to Civil Defense, closed 22 ports as a precaution and the police said they had rescued 23 people on the coast, without specifying under what circumstances.

The eruption was so powerful it was even heard in Alaska, the Institute of Geophysics at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks tweeted.

The Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai submarine volcano, located about 65 km from the Tongan capital Nuku'alofa, had emerged during an eruption in 2009, and had spewed so many large boulders and ash into the air in 2015 that a new island two kilometers long by one kilometer wide and 100 meters high was formed when they were deposited.

With AFP

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