Volcano

Tonga's head geologist Taniela Kula has been monitoring the eruption all week, which erupted again this morning.

While observations have had to be kept to a distance, new satellite imagery shows the island's land mass has grown since Monday.

"The island has grown 300-600metres to the eastern side. So it has widened up a bit. [The debris] has been building up the island, building up the rim of the vents," Kula said.

The volcano has an active history, last erupting in 2014/15 and before that in 2009.

RNZ Pacific correspondent Kalafi Moala said there seems to be no end to the eruption, with another one occurring on Thursday.

"With the wind conditions it has affected mostly the Ha'apai area but also Vava'u and it's not affecting Tongatapu even thoguh we in Nuku'alofa can actually see it taking place. Yesterday (Wednesday) I was driving by and looked out at the waterfront and I saw lightning coming out of the area," he said.

An Air New Zealand flight had to turn back mid-flight on Tuesday.

Tonga's head geologist Taaniela Kula told RNZ Pacific the "huge" eruption began on Monday morning, and by the afternoon ash had smothered the whole of Tonga.

He said ash clouds had since drifted north creating a spectacular sight, and leading to warnings.

"This morning it's still continuing to emit gas and vapour into the atmosphere. This morning you can still see the white clouds, it is probably about 16km high."

People on social media have dubbed the residence in La Palma a "miracle house".

The volcano started erupting on Sunday. More than 200 homes have been destroyed and about 6,000 people evacuated.

The lava from the Cumbre Vieja volcano is still advancing and scientists are not sure how long the eruption will last.

The image by photographer Alfonso Escalero shows the house surrounded by rivers of lava from the Cumbre Vieja volcano.

It is owned by a retired Danish couple, Inge and Ranier Cocq, who have not visited since the pandemic began, according to El Mundo.

The evacuation of El Paso was ordered after lava started spewing from a new crack in the Cumbre Vieja volcano.

More than 6,000 people have fled from lava that has buried hundreds of homes since the eruption began on Sunday.

Four earthquakes hit the island shortly after the new eruption vent opened.

Local officials said the lava could trigger a chemical reaction that causes explosions and the release of toxic gases when it reaches the sea.

La Soufrière, which has been dormant for decades, first started showing volcanic activity in December which picked up this week.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves urged more than 16,000 residents in "red zones" to evacuate.

The volcano has since spewed dark ash plumes 6 km (3.7 miles) into the air.

Ash fall has been recorded as far from the volcano as Argyle International Airport, St Vincent's National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO) said.

The country's disaster management agency says hundreds of buildings were damaged by Saturday's tsunami.

It says the possible cause of the tsunami was undersea landslides after the Krakatoa volcano erupted.

The strait, between the islands of Java and Sumatra, connects the Java Sea to the Indian Ocean.

The disaster management agency warned that the death toll after the tsunami, that struck at about 21:30 local time (14:30GMT) on Saturday, is likely to rise further.

Deaths have been reported in the Pandeglang, South Lampung and Serang regions.

The stratovolcano southwest of the city of Antigua began erupting on Sunday, with ash and lava spewing from its crater.

It comes five months after almost 200 people were buried by volcanic ash and mud during a violent eruption in June. That eruption generated pyroclastic flows - fast-moving mixtures of very hot gas and volcanic matter - which descended down the slopes, engulfing communities such as El Rodeo and San Miguel Los Lotes.

Volcanologists say lava is rising 500m above the volcano's crater.

The US Geological Survey's Tina Neal said the lone volcanic fissure that was still active last week had dwindled from a fountain of molten rock to a bubbling pond of lava, no longer spilling out of the cone surrounding it.

Levels of sulfur dioxide gas vented from the fissure, located on the lower east flank of Kilauea, had also dropped dramatically, she said.

The subdued activity there coincided with another major collapse in the outer wall of the summit crater last week.

The Kapoho Beach Lots and Vacationland subdivisions were engulfed by a flow of molten rock some 3m to 4.6m tall.

It brings to at least 350 the number of homes and other structures consumed by volcanic lava during the past month.

That latest toll of property losses from Kilauea's ongoing upheaval, which entered its 35th day on Wednesday, far surpasses the 215 structures destroyed by lava during all 35 years of the volcano's last eruption cycle, which began in 1983.