Praveen Menon and Kirsty Needham

(Reuters) – Tongans waited in line for services with limited funds on Saturday. This was a week following a tsunami and volcanic eruption.

Tonga’s government stated that drinking water is the top priority. A national emergency team has already provided 60,000 litres water to those in need. On Friday, a New Zealand-based naval vessel brought a desalination unit that can produce up to 70,000 litres of seawater per day.

Tongan officials received a statement from the Tongan prime ministry stating that those who were evacuated from their homes by a tsunami of up to 15 m crashing over South Pacific islands would be transferred to Tongatapu. This was due to food and water scarcity.

It stated that volcanic fallout from the ocean’s surface was causing damage to boats, making it difficult for marine transportation between islands, as well as preventing domestic flight.

It stated that Ashfall and tsunami affected 84% percent of the population. However, inter-island communications are still a challenge with few radio and satellite connections.

For a Tongan couple who lost their lives in the tsunami which decimated the Ha’apai islands, burials took place earlier this week. Three people have been officially killed. Nomuka Island has a new field hospital after its health centre was destroyed.

Faka’iloatonga taumoefolau is the coordinator of the project to rebuild Tonga’s parliament. He said that it was crucial for Tonga citizens to have access to international money transfer services for a limited time on Saturday in order to purchase essential goods.

Tongatapu: “Tongans have proven their resilience in the calamity” he stated to Reuters.

As defence flights continue from Australia and New Zealand, more naval vessels are arriving from Australia, New Zealand, and Britain to Tonga in order to provide aid.

COVID PRECAUTIONS

Tongan has established a COVID-19 policy which prohibits aid workers from entering the country. It also means that they will not allow anyone to enter the country until they are subjected to a three week isolation period. The aid delivery was contactless and the Australian aircraft that had been notified by COVID-19 among its crew returned to Brisbane at mid-air on Thursday.

The government stated that aid from Japan and China expected to be delivered would not contact the population in order to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Taumoefolau noted that Tonga had avoided a pandemic, only recording one case, and their border policy did not prevent aid reaching the communities.

He said, “It’s possible to get aid without having to compromise COVID protection.”

HMAS Adelaide, an Australian navy vessel was scheduled to arrive in Tonga with bulk water and a 40-bed hospital. Zed Selja, Australia’s minister of international development and the Pacific told reporters that HMAS Adelaide would be arriving in Tonga by Wednesday.

He said that the Tongan government had done “a remarkable job on ground”.

Sione Hufanga is the United Nations’ resident country coordinator specialist. He told Reuters that the agency assists the government with relief work because more people are arriving at shelters to seek food or other supplies.

“Almost all of the country’s crops were badly damaged. He spoke to Reuters from Nuku’alofa, Tonga’s capital. For a while, the country will heavily depend on food aid.

The agricultural sector contributed nearly 14% of Tonga’s GDP in 2015/16 and represented over 65% of exports.

Tongan’s government stated that it was “deeply grateful to the international community for their assistance”, which included US$8million in financing from the World Bank, and US$10million from the Asia Development Bank.

Reliance was a ship repair vessel that will reconnect Tonga’s undersea cables to the international telecoms network. It left Port Moresby on January 30th and arrived in Tonga, according to Refinitiv data.

Tongan authorities stated that the vessel should arrive within the next few days to replace the fibre-optic cables.