New Zealand’s National Emergency Management Agency has warned of strong currents and unpre-dictable surges caused by the eruption of a volcano in the waters of the Pacific island state of Tonga.
Earlier in the day, Tonga issued a tsunami warn-ing after the undersea Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai volcano erupted. The eruption became the latest in a series of the ongoing explosive eruptions from the volcano.
“We expect New Zealand coastal areas on the north and east coast of the North Island and the Chatham Islands to experience strong and unusual currents and unpredictable surges at the shore fol-lowing a large volcanic eruption at Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’pai in Tonga,” the agency said in a state-ment. It also noted that swimmers, surfers, fishermen, small boats and anyone in or near the water close to the shore were most at risk. The agency advised people to leave beaches and coastal areas, as well as stay away from harbors and rivers until at least Sun-day morning.
More than a hundred families were evacuated on Saturday from shoreline Samoan villages after a violent volcanic eruption in the Pacific island coun-try of Tonga caused waves to surge, media reported.
The eruption of the underwater Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano sparked tsunami alerts across the South Pacific. The Samoa Meteorological Center issued a tsunami warning on Facebook and urged the public to stay away from beach areas. Families were evacuated from the villages of Vailoa and Palauli on the southern side of Samoa’s Savaii island after wave surges hit the homes, the New Zealand Herald reported. Large tsunami waves also crashed homes in Tonga and reached Fiji.—APP
