Several days after the explosive eruption that occurred on the night of January 14 to 15 on the island of Nomuka in the Tongan archipelago, the extent of the damage is still difficult to estimate due to a power cut. Internet. New satellite images give a first glimpse.
The damage would be “considerable”. This was announced on Tuesday, January 18, by the international agencies responsible for assessing the impact of the violent eruption of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai volcano on the island of Nomuka. Four days after its launch, the first satellite images unveiled by Unosat (United Nations Satellite Center) give “an overview of damaged and ash-covered areas”, relays the Australian media Stuff. The extent of the damage was uncertain in recent days, the archipelago still being deprived of telephone communications and the Internet due to the rupture of an undersea cable.
Some 104 places analyzed by satellite “in cloudless areas” were covered in ash, and 41 structures were identified as damaged, reports Unosat on Twitter:
Nuku’alofa, the capital of Tonga, was covered in two centimeters of volcanic ash, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.HIM-HER-IT (BCAH). New information has also been released “about the human toll”, reports ABC News Australia – which also relays a compilation of satellite images in the video below. At least three people are said to have died, including a 50-year-old Briton.
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Australia and New Zealand sent Orion reconnaissance planes over Tonga on Monday January 17, and sent military ships to assist the archipelago. France, “neighbor of the Kingdom of Tonga” via the overseas collectivity of Wallis and Futuna, said “ready to meet the most urgent needs of the population”.