Overseas Tongans wait anxiously for news after volcano eruption
Al JazeeraOverseas Tongans are waiting anxiously for news of loved ones after a powerful volcanic eruption and tsunami severed communications with the kingdom in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. “I think the worst part is the blackout and the fact that we know nothing,” said Filipo Motulalo, a New Zealand-based journalist with Pacific Media Network. And our concern is for children who would obviously have had mental trauma because of this once-in-a-lifetime event.” New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said officials had made satellite contact with the country’s high commission in Tonga’s capital, Nuku’alofa, after the eruption which triggered a tsunami that swept Pacific coastlines from Japan to the United States and was heard as far away as Alaska and Finland. “I would say we’re anxious, not fearful,” said the Auckland Tongan Community secretary, Kennedy Maeakafa Fakana’ana’a-ki-Fualu. Fakana’ana’a-ki-Fualu, who is arranging for containers of relief supplies to be sent to Tonga, said a cable fault preventing internet access was a serious issue for families reliant on funds sent by the Tongan community in New Zealand.