On January 15, there was a huge eruption of the underwater volcano Hongga in Tonga. A NASA researcher said the forces of a volcanic eruption correspond to hundreds of Hiroshima bombs. Content flew from the volcano at an altitude of up to 40 km during the eruption.
– We believe that the amount of energy released by a volcanic eruption corresponds to between five and 30 million tons of TNT [ett typ av sprängämne, reds.anm]According to TT, NASA researcher Jim Garvin said in a press release.
Read more: NASA: Volcanic eruption like hundreds of Hiroshima
Andrea Sona has been living in Tonga for a few years now and is currently living in Hulunga, a village on the island of Tongatapu as the main island of Tonga with her friend, his family and her animals: a dog, three cats and eight pigs. Once the GP reached Andréa, the message on social media was over. All telephony may be via satellite phone after the lines are cut under the water and it is very difficult to call the area from outside.
“Just before Christmas, the volcano had its first eruption in a few years. It wasn’t something we made much of. Around Christmas and New Years, we sat in the evening and watched the volcano flash, but it never occurred to me that something else would happen,” she wrote in a statement.
Neither pressure nor sound can escape
She says that the day before the Big Bang she was away on a little shopping trip and saw the water in the sea behaving strangely.
Seems to be absorbed very quickly. Then I got scared because I knew it was a sign of a tsunami, so I immediately turned around and went inside,” she writes.
She says that on the evening of January 15, she was at her boss’s house at a party where she helped arrange food. Suddenly it got very hot, it started gurgling and then the sky exploded.
“Big brother pointed in the direction of the volcano and we quickly saw the formation of a large cloud. The ground started shaking and several explosions followed. The sound was so loud that I felt like I was going to be deaf and the pressure waves made my hair shiver. I went back and forth in a panic and started breathing excessively because neither pressure nor Loud noises can escape. I remember repeating the sentence “What are we going to do?” It felt as if the ground beneath us was torn apart,” Andrea writes.
Read more: The volcano’s sound waves revolve three revolutions around the Earth
Then she tried to contact her family in Sweden and was able to reach her father, older sister and mother. She says she managed to calm down a bit when all of a sudden it started raining rocks from the volcanic eruption, everyone went home and soon more people who moved from the nearest town came inland.
The electricity went out and they prayed in the dark, prayed and sang hymns. Soon the rain stopped and ash fell. She says the scene soon looked like it had been taken from a post-apocalyptic movie, completely covered in ashes.
Our house and my animals survived, except for the thick layer of ash. In two days we cleaned almost three tons of ashes. About 4.5 kg per square meter. But the days following the outbreak were tough. Electricity and water disappear from time to time for several hours and every car driving through the volcano reminds me of me.”
“There are dead fish and other animals all over the village.”
In connection with the volcanic eruption, several tsunami waves were formed that swept the island country. The islands closest to the volcano were severely damaged. At least two villages have been completely wiped out, but it is difficult to know the extent of the damage and the number of dead because communications are down.
Andrea says they didn’t know about the devastation to the coast on the other side of the island until a few days later she took over her friend who owns a resort there. Her friend also noticed that the water was starting to behave strangely then she gathered the beds and led them inside while warning the people passing by.
“The tsunami has almost completely destroyed their village and the neighboring village. The village cemetery should be completely destroyed and the bodies gone there. There are dead fish and other animals all over the village. Her husband said he was lucky that they saw the water and managed to evacuate everyone. Otherwise, they would go back to the village and take the bodies away. instead of rubbish.
Several countries began supplying Tonga, including Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.
According to United Nations estimates, about 80 percent, or about 84,000 people of Tonga’s population, have been affected by the volcanic eruption and tsunami.
Read more: Covid outbreak halts aid to Tonga
Read more: Australian aid arrives in Tonga
Volcanic eruption in Tonga
On January 15, the underwater volcano Hongga had a major eruption. Hunga is located near the island of Tonga, and the volcano triggered a tsunami that reached New Zealand and caused floods in California, USA.
The shock waves from the volcano reached halfway around the globe and shook the atmosphere 700 km away.
The devastation inflicted on the Tonga islands was enormous after the eruption, and it was difficult to get help from other countries as a result of the ash.
Source: TT
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