The Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai submarine volcano erupted spreading a variety and severe damage to Tonga archipelago, pacific countries’ coastline, and around the world. Eruption happen in January of 2022.

The most impacted country was Tonga, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the volcano. When the first eruption began on January 14, the eruption sent ash, gas, and steam 12.5 miles into the air. The first tsunami was 4 feet that hit Tonga’s capital Nuku’alofa.  The eruption was strong but didn’t do as much damage as the second eruption on January 15. 

On January 15, the major underwater shortly after, it sent a shockwave and a sonic boom around the pacific. The eruption sent the ash, gas, and stream up to 20 miles into the air, The volcanic mushroom plume covered the entire nation. The ash-covered all the tonga enclaves, cutting off Tonga communication to the world for a couple of days. Unprecedented a tsunami swept around the Pacific. The detection of the tsunami was found in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Mediterranean. The tsunami warning that went into effect was sent to Fiji, Samoa, and Vanuatu. Tsunami advisory and warnings were sent to the United States, Canada, Japan, Peru, and New Zealand. Japan reported

waves as high as 9 feet on the west coast of the United States which reported waves exceeding over 3 to 4 feet. But to the enclave’s Ha’apai island group, waves up to 50 feet crash the island. 

The death toll of the event was 3 people dead from the tsunami in Tonga. Meanwhile, 2 other people died from the flooding and tsunami in Peru. 

In Peru, the tsunami was strong enough to cause an oil spill. Clean-up is in process.

Damage to Tonga is yet to be determined. But foreign aid from around the world is assisting the people of Tonga from a deadly natural disaster. 

Citations:

https://graphics.reuters.com/TONGA-VOLCANO/lgpdwjyqbvo/

https://abcnews.go.com/International/photographic-timeline-tonga-volcano-eruption/story?id=82323579

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/19/climate/scientists-tonga-volcano-eruption-effects.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-60106981

https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/tonga-its-volcanic-eruption-2022-01-18/

https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/01/1109972

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/17/asia/tonga-volcanic-eruption-tsunami-explainer-intl-hnk/index.html