Volcanic eruption

“A lot of people were impacted, it may not be physically but mentally, that’s something we’re trying to address."

Speaking to FBC News, he said much of the trauma that remains is unseen.​

“We may be able to build houses now, but addressing mental health issues will take longer.”

Of the 80,000 people in Tonga affected by the disaster, 28,000 are children. 

Save the Children Tonga country lead Maa’imoa Mafile’o says many kids are still struggling.

The Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 Orion surveillance aircraft flew out within 48 hours of the eruption and was able to capture the first post-disaster photos. 

PMN News reports Flight Lieutenant Dave Evans says the crew didn't know what to expect. 

“Once we got up there, the thing that really struck me was the colour. Everything was a really strange colour as everything was covered in ash.

Sunday will mark one year since the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai eruption. 

Marco Brenna, a volcanologist at Otago University, ​says the volcano is still technically active, but it’s very minor. 

“The volcano is still brewing away, although deep beneath the waves, but a lot of that energy that had been stored has been lost, so it’s unlikely that the volcano will produce such a large eruption again in the next few years, decades even.”

The most recent eruption followed previous patterns to begin with, says Brenna. 

This water vapor could end up being the most destructive part of the volcano's eruption because it could potentially exacerbate global warming and deplete the ozone layer, according to the study. 

Their findings may lead to speedier predictions of these giant waves.

Every minute is crucial when warning people caught in the path of a tsunami. After the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, a tsunami in Indonesia reached Sri Lanka in less than two hours. Eight hours later, it arrived on the coast of Kenya. If there had been a way to notify people about the dangers of a tsunami in those faraway areas, it may have been possible to save at least some of the 230,000 victims.

Three people were killed and hundreds of homes were destroyed after a tsunami was generated by the massive January eruption. All resorts on the western side of Tongatapu were completely wiped out.

University of Auckland Volcanologist Shane Cronin said there was a resettlement scheme to help people relocate to 'Eua island.

Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai's eruption, which has been blamed for just six deaths, was similar in size to the Krakatoa explosion in Indonesia in 1883, according to the findings published in Science.

The Tonga explosion generated pressure waves, called Lamb waves, which travelled horizontally along Earth's surface for more than six days, according to the article.

Those Lamb waves are usually associated with large, atmospheric explosions, such as other volcanic eruptions and nuclear tests.

It was far bigger than any 20th Century volcanic event, or indeed any atom bomb test conducted after WWII.

The assessment comes in a pair of scholarly papers in the journal Science that have reviewed all the data.

Of recent history, it's likely only the Krakatoa eruption of 1883 rivalled the atmospheric disturbance produced.

The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano erupted Jan. 15, sending a large plume of ash some 26 miles into the atmosphere and creating a shockwave that traveled about 1,000 feet per second and a tsunami that struck Nuku'alofa, Tonga, and American Samoa. The eruption killed at least six people.

The blast also caused atmospheric impacts, reaching into the ionosphere across the globe, according to a paper published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Aid agencies on the ground were reporting a need to rehabilitate people who were psychologically affected by the eruption and tsunami.

Their distress was made worse by the tough Covid-19 lockdown restrictions being applied in the Kingdom, said Tonga Red Cross Secretary General, Sione Taumoefolau.