Attachments
Context
The Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai undersea volcano in Tonga erupted on 15 January 2022 at 17.10 local time in a blast that was felt across the entire Pacific region. The eruption resulted in two events with potential impact on agriculture livelihoods and all agriculture sub-sectors:
(i) a volcanic ash cloud; and (ii) a tsunami. The Government of Tonga declared a state of emergency on 16 January 2022.
The government’s initial damage assessment is still ongoing and the report is forthcoming.
Communication with the islands remains a challenge due to the broken undersea communication cables, hampering data collection and consolidation.
The government has now confirmed four deaths, 14 people injured, 2 400 people internally displaced and 84 800 people overall affected by the volcano eruption ashfall and tsunami waves (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs [OCHA], 2022).
As of 21 February 2022, there have been 233 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Tonga (World Health Organization [WHO], 2022). On 21 February, the government has extended the lockdown measures until 27 February 2022 (Government of Tonga, 2022).