A towering ash cloud since Saturday's eruption had prevented earlier flights. Some Tonga residents described it as looking like a moonscape as they began cleaning up from tsunami waves and ash.
One complicating factor to any international aid effort is that Tonga has so far managed to avoid any outbreaks of. Ardern said New Zealand's military staff were all fully vaccinated and willing to follow any protocols established by Tonga.
The United Nations Secretary General's Special Envoy for Oceans, Peter Thomson, told CBS News countries were mobilizing support for Tonga and the nearby archipelago of Fiji."The volcanic eruption is a dramatic reminder we live within nature's embrace." Satellite images showed the spectacular undersea eruption Saturday evening, with a plume of ash, steam and gas rising like a giant mushroom above the South Pacific waters.
A second undersea cable that connects the islands within Tonga also appeared to have been severed, Fonua said. However, a local phone network was working, allowing Tongans to call each other. But he said the lingering ash cloud was continuing to make even satellite phone calls abroad difficult.
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