Nomuka Island

Residents return to tsunami battered Tonga island

They were visited by the Prime Minister Hu'akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni over the weekend and have asked for an evacuation hall to be built at the highest point of the island, to house them if there is a similar event in the future.

The government said the Ministry of Agriculture is sending tapioca and kumara leaves to Nomuka to help farmers with replanting.

A team of Australian Defence Force personnel and soldiers from Fiji are on HMAS Canberra at Nomuka.

They are there to clear debris from the island.

Boat carrying relief supplies runs aground near Nomuka Island

Chief Executive of the Ministry of Information, Paula Ma’u said the MV Late was carrying bottles of LPG gas, drums of diesel and shopping.

Ma’u said, the vessel was travelling from Nuku’alofa to Pangai, where it was scheduled to quarantine for 72 hours before moving on to Nomuka.

There are no injuries nor death in the incident.

The boat appeared to have been overloaded and an attempt to speed up the process of bailing seawater, Ma’u told Kaniva News.