Relief efforts for Tonga to take into account virus worries

WELLINGTON • The United Nations is preparing to carry out relief operations for Tonga at a distance to avoid a Covid-19 outbreak in the Pacific island nation reeling from a volcanic eruption and tsunami, an official said yesterday.

Three people have died, and hundreds of homes in Tonga's small outer islands have been destroyed, the government said in its first statement after last Saturday's devastating eruption which it called "an unprecedented disaster".

With communications hampered by the severing of an undersea cable, information on the scale of devastation has mostly come from reconnaissance aircraft.

Fiji-based UN coordinator Jonathan Veitch said in a media briefing that the agency will conduct most operations remotely, and may not send personnel to the island. "We believe that we will be able to send flights with supplies. We're not sure that we can send flights with personnel and the reason for this is that Tonga has a very strict Covid-free policy," he said.

Tonga is one of the few countries that is Covid-19 free and an outbreak there would disastrous, he added. The tiny island nation has 90 per cent immunisation coverage both in adults and also younger people over the age of 12, Mr 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 has wiped out societies here."

The UN has 23 people on the ground plus other international NGOs to help with relief efforts, Mr Veitch said. He said the World Health Organisation would start a discussion with the government "in a cautious manner, but we won't be doing anything to threaten the safety of their protocols and the safety of their population in terms of Covid-19".

Two New Zealand navy vessels will arrive in Tonga tomorrow carrying critical water supplies for the Pacific island nation largely cut off from the outside world.

The Red Cross said its teams in Tonga had confirmed that salt water from the tsunami and volcanic ash were polluting the drinking water sources 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 Ms Katie Greenwood, a Pacific official of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano erupted with a blast heard 2,300km away in New Zealand and sent tsunami waves across the Pacific Ocean.

Dr James Garvin, chief scientist at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Centre, said the force of the eruption was estimated to be the equivalent of five to 10 megatonnes of TNT, or more than 500 times that of the nuclear bomb the United States dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima during World War II.

New Zealand's foreign ministry said Tonga had approved the arrival of its ships, the Aotearoa and the Wellington, in the nation, where concerns about a potential coronavirus outbreak are likely to complicate relief efforts.

Mr Simon Griffiths, captain of the Aotearoa, said his ship was carrying 250,000 litres of water, and had the capacity to produce another 70,000 litres a day, along with other supplies.

"For the people of Tonga, we're heading their way now with a whole lot of water," he said.

The Polynesian archipelago of 176 islands, 36 of them inhabited, has a population of about 105,000. Although its Fua'amotu International Airport was not damaged by the tsunami, it was covered in ash which has to be cleared manually.

As well as emergency supplies, Australia and New Zealand have promised immediate financial assistance.

Other countries and agencies, including the UN, are drawing up plans to help. China will send help, including water and food supplies, when the island's airport is opened again, a foreign ministry spokesman said.

Waves reaching up to 15m hit the outer Ha'apia island group, destroying all the houses on the island of Mango, as well as the west coast of Tonga's main island, Tongatapu, the prime minister's office said.

REUTERS