Tonga: Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai eruption and tsunami

[Alan Mighty]

Scientists arguing that:

* Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai is not pouring out enough sulfur dioxide particles to equal Pinatubo (or Pina2bo), hence not up to Neal Stephenson's Termination Shock standard for curbing global heating (or disrupting the monsoon rainfall pattern in the Punjab).

* NZ-based researchers led by Shane Cronin reckon that previous events on the Hunga Tonga - Hunga Ha'apai submarine plateau took place about 200CE and again in 1100CE, so the 2022CE event suggests (at least to minds wot like cycles) a 1K year cycle.

See: https://www.newscientist.com/article...lennium-event/

[JPA Cate]

At last, an indication as to what happened with Tongan communications: we read what happened to the cable: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-...red-/100760998

[Tetepare]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

At last, an indication as to what happened with Tongan communications: we read what happened to the cable: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-...red-/100760998

Stupid. They were out of service when the Intelsat 704 went dark because they didn’t have two satellite channels. Tell me they didn’t pull the plug on Intelsat when they got the cable. They also had the opportunity to install Kacific satellite but played the game and didn’t. I designed that network to be full mesh with direct access from every island to NZ, but apparently they decided to route all the traffic through the Chinese system in NUK. I’m having a hard time feeling bad that they don’t have comms. They did it to themselves.

[JPA Cate]

Their lack of comms may be more trouble to Tongans outside of Tonga, and those of us who want to know how it is for them, than for the indigenes.

Ann

[GordMay]

Some decent reporting:

Tongan geologists observe stunning eruptions at Hunga
➥ https://matangitonga.to/2022/01/15/t...Jan14eruptions

Why the volcanic eruption in Tonga was so violent, and what to expect next
➥ https://theconversation.com/why-the-...ct-next-175035

Tonga eruption heard in New Zealand, pressure waves picked up in Europe
➥ https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/tonga-...EFXOLEHFHU4TO4

[AilesEtIles]

I've spent several days in the Kalesia I. ~30 nm just "in front" of what were, at the time (2009), the two islands of Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha'apia, in an anchorage that, according to satelite images, might no more exist.
And I was near these islands when a tsunami hit the northernmost island of Niuatoputapu where entery formalities are generaly made... destroying the customs office and killing ten persons there while we just noticed oscillating strong currents through the reef... making me conscious that "luck is somehow necessary for cruisers"!
I

SPECIAL QUESTION: Does anybody can report of blogs/links from cruisers in the place during the tsunami (not the erruption itself)?

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by AilesEtIles

.. Does anybody can report of blogs/links from cruisers in the place during the tsunami (not the erruption itself)?

I doubt there’s many [any?] cruisers left, in Tonga.
Since Tonga is COVID-free, entry to Tonga has been severely restricted, and only travelers, specifically approved by the Tongan Government, are allowed to return, and yachts remain banned.
All travelers arriving in Tonga are required to quarantine on arrival in Tonga for 21 days.

[Tetepare]

If you can reach them (big if) I’ve found Moorings in Vava’u to be wonderfully helpful. I’ve never chartered with them, but they’ve assisted me several times with issues. Though I’d not suggest bothering them with little questions

[GordMay]

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs [OCHA] said there had been no contact from the Ha'apai group of islands and there was "particular concern" about two small low-lying islands — Fonoi and Mango, where an active distress beacon had been detected. According to the Tonga government, 36 people live on Mango, and 69 on Fonoi.

The Ha'atafu Beach Resort on the Hihifo peninsula, 21 kilometres west of Nuku'alofa, was "completely wiped out".

British woman Angela Glover, who ran a dog charity in Tonga, was killed, her brother told British media.

[AilesEtIles]

I have seen a video (I was unable to store any info and am unable to retrieve it) from a ketch escaping from the place "full-speed" with the dinghy still behind and dangerousty zig-zaging (they did not take the time to get it on board)...

[AilesEtIles]

I am a radio-amateur (F4EUT), have had a look at the Winlink website and looked for positions in the region but none between French Polynesia and New-Zeland...

Maybe SailMail users could do the same?

[El Pinguino]

Latest (2100 new zealand time ) RNZAF photos out of Tonga

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-...on-and-tsunami

[GreenWave]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Tonga's deputy head of mission in Australia, Curtis Tu'ihalangingie, asked for patience as Tonga's government decides its priorities for aid.
Any aid sent to Tonga would need to be quarantined, and it was likely no foreign personnel would be allowed to disembark aircraft, he said.
Tonga is concerned about the risk of aid deliveries spreading COVID-19 to the island, which is COVID-free.

This concern is unwarranted. Unless the aid includes people then virtually no way a physical items (not a lving thing) can bring in COVID. The virus doesn't live very long on inanimate objects. PLus proper disinfecting would take that to ZERO.

[JPA Cate]

A caution to first world country readers: Tonga is not an industrial country. It is a horticultural society [subsistence gardens, taro, cassava, tomatoes, fern and they raise chickens and pigs, and fish] of whose people are of Polynesian lineage, [so power is arranged according to chiefly lineage, like European royalty, chiefs call themselves kings, and they have kingly power]. They (as well as Fijians, Vanuatuans, & Solomon Islanders, to name a few) believe in witchcraft. So, helping out after a natural disaster like this is more complicated than say, after Hurricane Katrina, because it involves numerous cross cultural issues, instead of helpers and help receivers having the same backgrounds.

People all need water, food, and shelter, of course, but helping them get it really needs to be done in a way that the helpers do not cause harm. The Tongan government is well aware of it. They are almost all high ranking relatives of the king. The people have had waves of mass deaths in the past, due to germs brought in by Europeans. They don't want our pandemic to be brought in by us. Based on their experience, you really can't blame them, even if their resistance seems overdone to you.

Ann

[El Pinguino]

rather sad that only 61% of the population is fully vaccinated.
No need for that in a country with such a small population.

'They (as well as Fijians, Vanuatuans, & Solomon Islanders, to name a few) believe in witchcraft.'
Not sure about this 'witchcraft' thing - at several levels.

The vast majority identify as Christian and - like many Pasifika- are pretty devout.
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/...-in-tonga.html
Prior to the coming of the white man they practised polytheism

I wonder if some fringe church leaders and crackpots have been spreading the antivaxx message as has happened in their community in NZ?