Wellington, Jan 15, (dpa/GNA) – Tsunami alerts have been issued across large parts of the Pacific, after an underwater volcano near the kingdom of Tonga erupted on Saturday.
The eruption of Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai triggered a tsunami in Tonga. Local media on the island chain reported tidal waves were flooding properties, ash was falling and phone connections were down, but the scale of the devastation was unclear by late evening.
Authorities across the Pacific, including in Samoa, Fiji and New Zealand, issued tsunami alerts, warning people to stay away from coastal areas due to the possibility of strong and unusual currents and unpredictable surges.
“People in or near the sea should move out of the water, off beaches and shore areas and away from harbours, rivers and estuaries,” the New Zealand National Emergency Management Agency warned.
The volcano is located about 2,000 kilometers north-east of New Zealand.
New Zealand’s MetService said its instruments detected a pressure surge from the eruption. New Zealanders took to social media to report they could hear the eruption.
The volcano also erupted on Friday, when small tsunami waves of up to 30 centimeters were recorded, the Tonga Meteorological Office said.
The volcano was erupting intermittently in late December, but Friday’s eruption was about seven times more powerful than the last eruption, Tonga Geological Services said.
GNA