The first Australian and New Zealand aid flights have arrived in Tonga, as on-the-ground images of the recent volcanic eruption emerge from the Pacific Island nation.
In a joint statement, Australia's Foreign Affairs Minister, Marise Payne, Defence Minister, Peter Dutton, and International Development and Pacific Minister, Zed Seselja, said a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) C-17 aircraft delivered "urgent" humanitarian supplies.
It said the delivery included shelter materials, hygiene supplies, PPE for people clearing ash, water containers and communication equipment.
The statement said the aid would be delivered "in a COVID-safe way".
Mr Seselja said in a tweet that a second Australian aircraft with more supplies was on its way.
Meanwhile, a Royal New Zealand Air Force C-130 Hercules, which left Auckland earlier today, also landed at Nuku'alofa this afternoon.
In an earlier statement, New Zealand's Foreign Minister, Nanaia Mahuta, said that aircraft was carrying "humanitarian aid and disaster relief supplies, including water containers, kits for temporary shelters, generators, hygiene and family kits, and communications equipment".
The delivery of urgent supplies would be contactless and the aircraft were expected to only be on the ground for up to 90 minutes before returning to New Zealand, she said.
"We are very cautious in putting people in," Yutaro Setoya, the head of the World Health Organization Country Liaison Office for Tonga told the ABC in one of the first interviews from the country since the underwater volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai erupted on Saturday.
"The government is discussing if there's a need to have international human support personnel to come here or we can provide more support domestically."
In November, people on Tonga's main island went into a snap seven-day lockdown after the country recorded its first COVID-19 case since the beginning of the pandemic.
It has since managed to avoid an outbreak of COVID-19.
The most important support the international community could provide at the moment was money, Dr Setoya said.
"So that governments can provide support domestically," he said.
Australia and New Zealand have both promised financial assistance, with New Zealand offering two packages worth $NZ500,000 ($472,000) and Australia committing $1 million in initial aid.
Homes and livelihoods devastated
UN officials report that 84,000 people — more than 80 per cent of Tonga's population — have been impacted by the volcano's eruption.
Australia's High Commissioner to Tonga, Rachael Moore, told the ABC that the loss to property had been "catastrophic".
"We've seen reporting of zero houses remaining on some of the small islands.
"And along the western beaches there's a moonscape where beautiful resorts and many, many homes stood," she said.
"The fact that the Tongan government was able to support the people and that the Tongan people knew what to do in the case of a tsunami has meant that the loss of life and the number of serious injuries is small," Ms Moore added.
While communications with Tonga remain largely cut off due to the kingdom's undersea communications cable being damaged, telecom provider Digicel said it had managed to restore international phone calls.
"We gave this work the highest priority and our technical team has had sleepless nights over the past few days in trying to restore vital communication with the world," Digicel regional CEO Shally Jannif said.
There remains minimal connection with 2G phone calls to Digicel numbers only, however.
Many in Australia have anxiously awaited being able to contact their family members in Tonga, with several people telling the ABC they have not been able to get through due to the lines being clogged.
Natalie Dixon-Monu, who is based in Melbourne, has not yet been able to speak directly with relatives in the village of Kanokupolu on the western side of Tonga's main island Tongatapu.
But Australian High Commission staff had relayed a message that her mother-in-law is safe, sheltering at a local school.
"The place that we had our wedding reception at, up on the beach, is all wiped out," Ms Dixon-Monu said.
Hopes for rain to help wash away ash
Days after the eruption, the major issue facing most people who have not lost their homes is the fine ash that has settled.
"It's everywhere," Dr Setoya told the ABC.
"So people are up and running, trying to clean their houses … everybody has been cleaning the ashes but still there's a lot of ashes everywhere."
Tony Stuart, the head of UNICEF Australia, said a "a thick layer of volcanic ash, up to 10 centimetres in some areas, has contaminated drinking water sources and crops, and hugely affected air quality".
"We're also deeply concerned about the outbreak of waterborne diseases and the mental health of young children, many of whom have been displaced after their homes were destroyed in the disaster," he said.
"It was like the first time it snowed in Tonga," Dr Setoya joked.
"Most of the clean-up involves using water to wash away the ashes.
The Red Cross said its teams in Tonga had confirmed that salt water from the tsunami and volcanic ash were polluting the drinking water of tens of thousands of people.
"Securing access to safe drinking water is a critical immediate priority ... as there is a mounting risk of diseases such as cholera and diarrhoea," said Katie Greenwood of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Dr Setoya wanted to highlight the resilience of the Tongan people as they worked to restore their devastated country.
"Tonga people are very positive," he said.
"People are up and running … it's good to see that people are trying to do something to fight against this crisis."
But Ms Dixon-Monu said in villages like Kanokupolu where people's livelihoods are largely reliant on subsistence farming, it would take years to recover from the destruction of their crops by salt water and toxic ash.
"They will be heavily reliant on external [help], purchasing food," she said.
What other help has been announced so far?
Both Australia and New Zealand have said more financial aid would be provided if and when it was needed.
"Canberra is now supporting coordination between interested countries, along with Wellington, to make sure we give Tonga exactly what it needs," Ms Moore, the High Commissioner, said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison spoke with Tongan Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni.
"Our defence forces have stood up their operation and are deploying as necessary and directed … we feel deeply for our family in Tonga."
An Australian naval ship has also been loaded with aid and equipment at the Port of Brisbane.
The Australian Defence Force made the delivery this morning to HMAS Adelaide, which is expected to leave later today or early tomorrow.
It will take five days to sail to Tonga.
"The clean-up of the international airport continues, and it is hoped that it will be operational on Thursday," UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told a press briefing.
"As for the port, it is understood that ships will be able to dock."
New Zealand sent two navy vessels carrying water, humanitarian aid and disaster relief supplies to Tonga, with the first leaving on Tuesday and the second on Wednesday.
New Zealand's Defence Minister Peeni Henare said the journey for both ships would take three days.
"Water is among the highest priorities for Tonga at this stage and HMNZS Aotearoa can carry 250,000 litres, and produce 70,000 litres per day through a desalination plant," Mr Henare said.
The US Agency for International Development has approved $US100,000 ($138,700) in immediate assistance, and Japan says it will provide more than $1 million in aid as well as drinking water and equipment to clear ash.
China said it would also send help, including water and food when the airport opened.
The United Nations said it was preparing for distanced relief operations to avoid a COVID-19 outbreak in the Pacific Island nation.
Tonga has 90 per cent immunisation coverage for people over the age of 12, Fiji-based United Nations coordinator Jonathan Veitch said.
"They've been very cautious about opening their borders, like many Pacific islands, and that's because of the history of disease outbreaks in the Pacific, which have wiped out societies here," he said.
Every home on one island lost
The office of Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni earlier gave the government's first update since the disaster struck.
It said a 65-year-old woman on Mango island and a 49-year-old man on Nomuka island had been killed, in addition to the British national whose body was found on Monday.
There were reports of some injuries, but Dr Setoya said "not many" people had been hurt.
Destruction, meanwhile, has been widespread.
James Garvin, chief scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said the force of the eruption was estimated to be the equivalent of five to 10 megatons of TNT, or more than 500 times that of the nuclear bomb the United States dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima at the end of World War II.
Every home on Mango Island, where about 50 people live, has been destroyed, and only two houses remain on Fonoifua. Nomuka Island has suffered extensive damage.
Tsunami waves reaching up to 15 metres hit the Ha'apia island group, where Mango is located, and the west coast of Tonga's main island, Tongatapu, Mr Sovaleni's office said.
Residents have been moved to evacuation centres as 56 houses were destroyed or seriously damaged on that coast, Dr Setoya said.
New Zealand Defence Force images showed tarpaulins being used as shelter on Mango, one of the kingdom's 176 islands.
Atata and Mango are between about 50km and 70km from the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano, which sent tsunami waves across the Pacific Ocean when it erupted with a blast heard 2,300km away in New Zealand.
"Even though the tsunami warning has been cancelled and volcanic activity has significantly decreased, monitoring efforts continue," Mr Sovaleni's office said.
ABC/wires
