Caritas Internationalis is delivering aid to the population of Tonga, an island in the South Pacific that was hit on 15 January by a tsunami up to 15 metres high. The tsunami was triggered by the eruption of an underwater volcano, estimated to be the most violent on the planet in 30 years.
National Caritas organisations in Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, and Papua New Guinea are coordinating aid efforts. “It’s crucial that we step up and support our neighbours in Tonga, as they recover from this devastating volcanic eruption,” says Damaris Pfendt, Caritas Australia’s Pacific Humanitarian Coordinator. Pope Francis and the acting general secretary of the World Council of Churches, Revd Professor Ioan Sauca, have called for prayers and solidarity to assist Tonga.
Almost 80 per cent of the population of Tonga has been affected by flooding caused by the tsunami and by the contamination of drinking water by ash from the volcano. Emergency supplies – such as water purification units, hygiene kits, buckets and water taps – already stored in Tonga are being distributed. A further 1,000 water purification kits and 1,000 first aid kits have come in. Food and fuel are in short supply, as the island is dependent on imports for both, and shelters. About 100 homes have been damaged and 50 destroyed on the main island of Tongatapu. Extensive damage to houses, road and bridges on other islands is reported. There have been three reported casualties so far.
When the volcano erupted on 15 January a Catholic seminary student in Fiji, 460 miles away, heard the boom and called his mother on Tongatapu. She spoke of a tsunami warning and a storm of black rocks pelting buildings, bouncing off cars like marbles on tiles. “It was all falling from the sky, and it freaked her out,” he reported.
Fiji, which experienced dangerous waves, was already coping with the aftermath of Cyclone Cody which hit Fiji with severe rains and flash flooding on 10 January. Roads were washed away and homes, crops, and businesses destroyed. All coastal areas of the Fiji Islands were inundated, forcing communities to evacuate. Tevita Naikasowalu, the Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation coordinator for the St Columban Mission Society in Fiji, called for urgent assistance. "Life is going to be very difficult," he said, "and there is now a real need to help all we can."
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