Kingdom of Tonga disaster updates, donations
Weekender #17
You’re reading The Husk's Friday edition, our Weekender, a countdown/roundup of miscellanea from Micronesia, Guam, and Earth.
… updates from the Kingdom of Tonga after the Hunga Tonga Hunga-Ha’apai volcanic eruption
Nuku’alofa, Tonga’s capital, was covered with a two-centimeter-thick layer of volcanic ash and dust, which poses major health concerns. Air quality, respiratory problems, and contaminated drinking water are just a few of the issues. The New York Times reported Tongan armed forces cleared the airport runway of ash by hand.
Three people have died and there is no communication with other areas.
This tweet from today out of the Consulate of the Kingdom of Tonga notes “almost all homes understood to be destroyed.”
…things from Micronesia
After declaring a state of emergency following the damage from King Tides, Chuuk gets relief, per the Kaselehlie Press
United Airlines suspended service to Majuro but will still fly to Kwajalein. From the Marianas Variety:
United notified Marshall Islands authorities Tuesday evening that due to safety concerns for employees and customers for continued use of the airport terminal building that was originally built in 1972, the airline was suspending regular service to Majuro.
The article also noted the safety concern centered on the Majuro terminal building roof, which was previously determined to be at risk of collapsing.
…Facebook page you won’t regret following https://www.facebook.com/NWSGuam
In the hours after the Tonga volcano eruption, I skimmed local news sites on Guam and didn’t see any information about a tsunami warning. Thankfully NWS Guam had the information I sought on their Facebook page. 1
Since NWS Guam has been on Facebook, they've been an absolutely invaluable resource to people in this large Pacific region. They explain the different weather terminology and they always have the information first. Even if you aren’t in the region, you’ll benefit from knowing what’s happening weather-wise from the experts who are monitoring conditions constantly here. It’s very likely that you also have family and friends here in Micronesia and you want to know what’s happening here.
Here’s a list of organizations accepting donations to help our Pasifika friends in Tonga: https://donateresponsibly.org/tonga-hit-tsunami-after-volcanic-eruption. This website also provided updates on the situation in Tonga which I appreciated. If you can donate, that would be great. I think even if you’re not able to donate now, sharing the websites where people can donate is still helpful in that it keeps the disaster top of mind.
Do you know of other ways to help the Kingdom of Tonga? Please share!
With that, I hope you all have a refreshing weekend.
When Supertyphoon Yutu hit the CNMI in 2018, I was in the weather service office covering the storm for the Pacific Daily News. (Yutu was called the strongest storm of 2018.) I was incredibly privileged to witness firsthand how these meteorologists work. They fielded calls from all over the region. Folks had no power and no access to a radio so they called the Guam weather office as Yutu tore the roofs off their homes and winds screamed through the night. NWS Guam checked in with their points of contact in the outer islands of Micronesia, provided updates online on their official website, fielded press questions, replied to questions on Facebook all while monitoring the massive storm. It was an incredible sight. Absolutely incredible. I guess I am a National Weather Service Guam stan lol. So follow them on Facebook.