Authorities are still trying to make contact with the Tonga islands affected by the sudden eruption of a massive volcano that shrouded much of the nation in ash and generated a massive tidal wave.
Most worrying is that satellite imagery of the island group shows that one island near the Hunga Tonga volcano is almost entirely missing. The image from the United Nations Satellite Centre showed the sheer scale of the devastation.
🔴 At 17:08 UTC yesterday, #Copernicus #Sentinel1 🇪🇺🛰️captured the 1⃣st image of #HungaTonga 🌋after the destructive eruption
— Copernicus EU (@CopernicusEU) January 16, 2022
The volcanic island is almost completely wiped out
⬇️ Comparison before (3 Jan.) / after (image of 15 Jan., ~12 hours after the eruption)#Tonga pic.twitter.com/KA98HTQCBz
In the satellite image posted on twitter a before and after image can be seen which shows the island has all but disappeared.
Earlier in January a prior eruption of the volcano was so large that falling ash increased the size of this particular island by almost 50%.
Dan Slayback, a research scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, told journalists:
"Imagery captured the first clear view of the new island structure on 2 January 2022. Comparing PlanetScope imagery from mid-December, before the most recent eruption began, the surface area of the island appears to have expanded by nearly 45 percent due to ashfall."
Three people are known to have died in the Tonga explosion, the first death being confirmed as a British citizen, Angela Glover, who was washed out to sea by the huge tidal wave. Angela moved to Tonga in 2014 and had set up an animal sanctuary. She had been trying to save her dogs when the wave washed her out.
Her brother says that her husband blames himself for her death, as he could not save her from the oncoming wave as he clung to a tree for safety.
Angela's brother said:
"I was able to speak to James last night. He's been able to communicate with us via satellite phone from the British Embassy. He's safe, he has all his basic needs covered, he has shelter, food, water and money. I don't believe he sustained any serious injuries. He is naturally just shattered and guilt-ridden as to the events that took place. He's quite naturally blaming himself for not being able to save Angela. It doesn't matter how many times we tell him he has nothing to reproach himself for. He is carrying an incredible burden of guilt at the moment."
[Based on reporting by: Futurism]
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