The violent eruption of an undersea volcano near Tonga in the South Pacific has triggered a tsunami that has hit the island nation’s coastline and has also set off alarms in other countries in the region, reaching the coasts of Japan and the United States.
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“Waves of about 1.2 metres have been recorded in Nuku’alofa,” the capital of Tonga, home to 24,500 people, the Australian Meteorological Service said on Twitter. Local authorities in Tonga, home to some 71,000 people, have so far reported no casualties, while local media warn that several areas of the country remain cut off.
The Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai underwater volcano, located about 65 kilometres north of the Tongan island of Tongatapu, erupted for about eight minutes at around 17.20 local time (4.20 GMT), sending a huge column of ash kilometres into the air. The violent explosion was recorded in satellite images, reports the Weather Service on the US island of Hawaii.
One-metre waves hit Japan and the US.
The tsunami reached the Pacific coast of Japan, where 1.2 metre waves reached the island of Amami Oshima, although the Japan Meteorological Agency predicts that waves could reach up to 3 metres in the Amami and Tokara islands (southwest) and Iwate (northeast).