Tonga faces more than four weeks of solitary confinement due to rupture of submarine cable after the tsunami

the archipelago of Tonga faces at least four more weeks of incommunicado detention due to the rupture of an underwater cable as efforts continue to send humanitarian aid to the devastated Polynesian nation against the clock after the volcanic eruption and the tsunami from last Saturday. According to the New Zealand High Commission in Tonga, the companies in charge of the submarine cable that connects the archipelago with neighboring Fiji believe that the line broke about 35 kilometers from the coast over the weekend due to the onslaught of the tsunami generated after the eruption, with waves up to 15 meters high.

“Cable company SubCom advises that it will take at least four weeks to repair the connection in Tonga”New Zealand authorities revealed.

LOOK: First images of devastation: Tonga, covered in ash and with devastated coasts after eruption and tsunami

In an update on the situation after the eruption and the tsunami, the New Zealand body indicated that today it has been possible to establish a provisional mobile phone system with a 2G connection, although with a “limited and irregular” capacity.

The country’s government, which on Tuesday managed to send its first statement since the tragedy, has also managed to restore part of the electrical system and gives priority to recovering some telephone lines after a catastrophe that it described as “an unprecedented disaster” for this kingdom made up of 169 islands and with 105,000 inhabitants.

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So far there are three confirmed deaths, but the magnitude of the disaster together with the isolation in which the country has been plunged makes the authorities fear that the number is much higher.

“LACK OF COLOR”

The archipelago of pristine beaches that more than 90,000 international tourists enjoyed in 2019 (before the start of the covid-19 pandemic) has been turned into a desolate lunar landscape, buried by tons of ash and with completely devastated islands.

All the inhabitants of the islands of Mango and Fonoifua (about 150 people) are being evacuated by the Navy to other less affected islands.

LOOK: Shocking videos of the tsunami in Tonga, from inside the wave and from space

In Mango there were no houses left standing, in Fonoifua only two resisted, while, according to images from the New Zealand Air Force, the infrastructure of Atata Island has also been totally destroyed.

The New Zealand Defense Minister, Peeni Henare, highlighted the “lack of color” described in the reports of the Air Force that have flown over the most affected areas of the archipelago.

“One imagines Pacific islands with… the vivid color of the sand and the beaches. Everything is very gray and dull because of the ash, ”said the minister in statements collected by Radio New Zealand.

Cleaning work on the runway of the airport located on the country’s main island is expected to be completed today to allow the arrival of C-130 Hercules planes with humanitarian aid from New Zealand and Australia on Friday.

Two New Zealand ships and one Australian ship have already set sail for Tonga, where they will arrive “at the earliest on Friday” with emergency supplies, mainly drinking water, medical supplies and power generators.

The lack of drinking water due to contamination by ash or salinization is one of the most pressing problems survivors are facing these days and one of the top priorities for humanitarian aid.

ANTI-COVID MIRACLE IN DANGER

While the Polynesian kingdom lives in an anguished and forced isolation, it sees how the sending of humanitarian aid endangers its miracle in the fight against the covid-19 pandemic, with only one contagion so far thanks to the isolation in which it has lived for almost two years.

“They want to keep covid-19 out of their country. It is a humanitarian mission with different fronts,” New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta explained on Wednesday, noting that she is in dialogue with the Tongan authorities on security protocols against the pandemic in the face of the arrival of emergency supplies.

Tonga’s high commissioner in Canberra, Curtis Tu’ihalangingie, said Tuesday on the Australian public channel ABC that protocols will have to be strictly followed to avoid a “tsunami of covid-19”.

Tonga shielded its borders to prevent the entry of the coronavirus and throughout the pandemic it has only detected one case while it has managed to vaccinate 60% of its population with the full schedule.

That single case was recorded at the end of October 2021 and involved a vaccinated person who was in quarantine after arriving from New Zealand on a repatriation flight.

“Opening up to tourism and humanitarian workers carries enormous risks for (nations in) the Pacific, which has so far been largely shielded from the impact,” Kate Schuetze, Asia-Pacific researcher for Amnesty International, said today on Twitter.

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Deshawn