On January 15, 2022, an underwater volcanic eruption triggered tsunami hit the Pacific nation of Tonga, causing severe damage to the archipelago’s coastline and a blanket of ash covered vast areas, as reported by Business Insider.
According to the Tonga government, the tsunami and the volcanic eruption destroyed many homes of the people residing on the island, and killing three people. It also caused damage to the underwater communication channels, resulting in major communication shut off to the nation as well as affected the neighboring nations. The volcanic eruption and tsunami caused swells as far as Japan and US West Coast, reports Wall Street Journal.
The volcanic eruption also caused a massive oil spill off the coast of Peru, which is almost 11,000 kilometers away from it, forcing Peru’s environmental authority to close at least two beaches and a national natural reserve. According to the government officials, the spill near the seaside city of Ventanilla, near the Peruvian capital has been contained and cleaning is underway.
According to New Zealand’s 1 News, it took 200 people to sweep away just 100 meters of ash off the runway of Fua’amotu International Airport.
Satellite images by Maxar Technologies capture the volcanic eruption and tsunami hit areas of Tonga. Here are the before and after images of Tonga.
