By: Vivienne Wellet

 An underwater volcano erupted offshore of Ohonua, which is around Australia. An underwater volcano forms when two tectonic plates collide with each other but one goes underneath the other one and after molten lava is produced in the second layer of Earth’s interior.

According to officials, in Alaska, they could hear the sound of the explosion once it erupted. Many Airports, beaches, and roads were either delayed, canceled, or closed off because of how much ash was  coming from the volcano.

  There have been many warnings about Tsunamis hitting all around the U.S., parts of Australia, Tasmania, and Japan. In Japan, about 1.2 meters waves were recorded. As the waves crashed onto the shore, from over 800km away, the capital Suva, officials said they could hear the waves.It impacted mostly everyone in the world with either flooding, huge waves, and tsunamis. Most places that don’t have many waves,have so many waves you can surf on them.

  Tonga was hit directly and had so much ash that it was almost a blackout, emergency vehicles couldn’t see, power lines and internet services were unavailable, and a few people had gotten injured but not any deaths. Stephanie Dujarric, a U.N. Spokesman, stated that there was“significant damage” to the western side of Tongatapu”. On Tonga’s shoreline, someone recorded 2.7-foot waves.Santa Cruz, California there was some coastal flooding due to tsunamis, and some low south parts of Florida. An oil spill occurred around Peru after two people died from drowning. 

On Thursday,January 20th, 2022, Planes arrived in Tonga with First-aid, food, water, and other important things. Before they landed people in Tonga had to move the volcanic ash by hand from the runway to be able to land. New Zealand’s military helped people in need who had been struck with the volcano with food, water, and other supplies but took over a day to fly it out of the plane.

On Tuesday, January 11, 2022, they sent 1 million New Zealand dollars( 676,100 in U.S.dollars) to help pay for the destruction. A New Zealand navy ship is on its way to Tonga with over 250,000 liters( 66,000 gallons) to help save people. Japan also sent planes out to Tonga with supplies and equipment to help clean volcanic ash quicker. More than 80%( 85,000 people) in Tonga were affected by the volcano. According to Red Cross Aid, more of the smaller islands of Tonga were seriously damaged, and that there were a few injuries on the island.

Photo from NPR