The island nation of Tonga was recently devastated by an undersea volcanic eruption and an undersea tsunami which was caused by said eruption. Patchy communications and sparse satellite images show that the island is covered in ash and waterlogged houses and debris. The underwater eruption also slightly affected other countries around the Pacific, resulting in some small Tsunamis and earthquakes in other regions of the Ring of Fire. The start of the event was when the Hunga Tonga Underwater Volcano suddenly and violently erupted, which let out a large spew and a cloud of ash which coated Tonga with volcanic ash, which was extremely hot. The force of the eruption also released several Tsunamis across the Pacific, one of which directly impacted Tonga while traveling through the Pacific. The central Tongan government confirmed on Saturday that there had been 3 deaths and ‘several injuries’ to residents of the multiple islands making up Tonga.

Image of the eruption as it occurred (1NewsNZ via Twitter)

The government of New Zealand also warned that further assistance from outside countries to help with the disaster may be hard, as there are still threats of further eruptions causing more damage to Tonga. Other Pacific island nations and countries such as Australia and the Philippines ,have pledged their full support to Tonga in wake of the disaster, and will all be providing consistent and constant foreign aid to help Tonga recover. Drinking water and eating food is unsafe on the islands, as volcanic ash has covered the islands that make up Tonga in harmful levels of ash and Carbon Dioxide. The tsunami and eruption of the Hunga Tonga volcano was also captured from the ISS and other Satellites from space, which demonstrated their scale. Other countries experienced small amounts of damage from aftershocks from the earthquake, and small Tsunamis and Tidal Waves provoked some small flooding events in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and California.