In Tonga, residents fled to the heights on Saturday.
“It was a massive explosion,” resident Mere Taufa, who was at home preparing dinner, told the news site Stuff. “The ground shook, the whole house was shaken. It came in waves. My younger brother believed that bombs were exploding near our house,” he said.
A few minutes later, the water invaded his house, and he saw the wall of a neighboring house fall. “We knew right away that it was a tsunami, with the water that reached the house. Screams were heard everywhere, and everyone began to flee towards the heights,” he added.
The eruption lasted eight minutes, and was so strong that it was heard “like distant thunder” in the Fiji Islands, more than 800 km away, officials in Suva, the capital, said.
walk away from the shore
Victorina Kioa of the Tonga Public Services Commission called on people to stay away “from all the places that are threatened, that is, the beaches, the reefs and all the flat coastlines.”
The head of the Geological Survey of the archipelago, Taaniela Kula, also urged people to stay inside, wear a mask outside and cover the water tanks in case of acid rain.
Similar warnings were also issued in New Zealand, Fiji, Vanuatu, American Samoa, Australia and Chile, where the National Emergency Office warned of the possibility of a “minor tsunami” reaching Easter Island and part of the mainland coast.
Throughout the day, thousands of people enjoying the beaches of Chile during the southern summer were alerted by the sound of a strident tsunami warning on their phones. Beaches in all regions from the northern border with Peru to the far south were evacuated.
Since the morning, a variation in the height of the waves of between 30 centimeters and one meter was recorded.
Ecuadorian authorities also issued a tsunami warning for the country’s mainland coast while monitoring sea level variations in the Galapagos Islands.
In Australia, authorities said parts of the coastline, including Sydney, could be hit by waves. Residents of the surrounding New South Wales state were also advised to “get out of the water and away from the shore”.
The US National Weather Service also issued tsunami warnings for the West Coast, from California to Alaska, predicting waves of up to 60 centimeters, strong currents and coastal flooding.
“A tsunami is underway. Remember: the first wave may not be the largest. Stay away from the shoreline and head for higher ground,” the country’s National Tsunami Warning Center wrote.
So did Canada, which issued a tsunami warning for the province of British Columbia.
Additionally, according to the US weather services, Hawaii was affected by “minor flooding.”
The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano is located on an uninhabited island about 65 kilometers north of Nuku’alofa, the capital of Tonga.