Images reveal devastation in tsunami-hit Tonga

In Peru, authorities sealed off three beaches after they were hit by an oil spill blamed on freak waves caused by the volcanic eruption

A volcano that exploded in the Pacific island nation of Tonga has almost disappeared from view, new images revealed Tuesday, with swathes of the country smothered in grey dust or damaged by a tsunami.

The volcano erupted 30 kilometres (19 miles) into the air on Saturday and deposited ash, gas and acid rain across a large area of the Pacific. 

Three people were killed and "a number" were injured, the government said on Twitter, calling the volcano explosion "an unprecedented disaster."

While power and local phone systems have been partially restored, international communications remain severed and the internet is down.

Only two relatively small volcanic islands were still visible above sea level after the eruption.

Wrecked buildings were visible on the foreshore alongside others that appeared intact.

Shipping containers had been knocked over like dominoes at a port on the main island. 

"With international phone lines and internet connectivity still down, Dr Setoya's satellite phone is one of the few ways to get information," it said.

The UN health agency said around 100 houses had been damaged, with 50 destroyed on Tonga's main island of Tongatapu.

Water supplies "have been seriously affected by the volcanic ash," the government said in a statement.

"The gov't has advised the public to remain indoors, use masks if going out & to drink bottled water due to the ashfall," according to WHO.

Australia's HMAS Adelaide and New Zealand's HMNZS Wellington and HMNZS Aotearoa were ordered to be ready for a possible aid request from Tonga, which lies three to five days' sailing away.

New Zealand has allocated NZ$1 million ($680,000) in humanitarian assistance and the United States has pledged $100,000.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said a signal had been detected from a distress beacon on a low-lying island, Mango.

Images released by the United Nations Satellite Centre showed the impact of the disaster on the island of Nomuka, one of the closest to the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano.

The government has begun evacuating the affected areas, according to its statement.

One of the three people confirmed dead was Briton Angela Glover, a 50-year-old who ran a stray animals charity and was reported missing by her husband after the tsunami hit.

"James was able to cling on to a tree for quite a long time, but Angela was unable to do so and was washed away with the dogs," he told The Guardian newspaper.

- Communications cut -

The eruption -- one of the largest in decades -- was recorded around the world and heard as far away as Alaska, triggering a tsunami that flooded Pacific coastlines from Japan to the United States.

The blast severed an undersea communications cable between Tonga and Fiji that operators said would take up to two weeks to repair.

...

Originally published as Images reveal devastation in tsunami-hit Tonga