When an explosive volcanic eruption triggered a tsunami in Tonga just over two weeks ago, homes were destroyed, communication lines disabled, and a heavy blanket of ash deposited on towns and villages.
Perhaps miraculously, however, only three people reportedly died as a result of the eruption — the force of which has been described as the equivalent of a nuclear explosion — and the tsunami that followed.
The challenge then arose of delivering aid to a remote island nation during a global pandemic.
Relief efforts weigh especially heavy on the hearts and minds of Tongans who live away from their cherished South Pacific homeland.
A diaspora of Tongans — seeking better opportunities for themselves and their families — means there are more Tongans elsewhere than the approximately 105,000 who remain in Tonga. Those who left, however, remain intimately connected to their native land.
“The government and the people of Tonga are now in the process of cleaning, rebuilding and recovering from what happened,” Maata Fakasieiki, who graduated from the University of Hawaii at Hilo in May 2020 with a degree in biology, said last week. “The main thing that Tonga needs right now is clean water (and) shelters for people that lost their homes.”
Fakasieiki is from Vava‘u, an island group about 200 miles north-northeast of Nuku‘alofa, Tonga’s capital city. She’s staying with family on Hawaii Island, but has been unable to return home because of the pandemic. She’s also unable to work here because she’s in the U.S. on a student visa.
“I miss home so much,” Fakasieiki said. “It’s a good thing I have family here to stay with, but I really want to go home. There’s still no telephone lines on my home island, so I wasn’t able to talk to my dad, but I have a sister who traveled to the main island days before the volcano eruption.
“The telephone companies back home were able to fix some of their telephone lines, so we can be able to talk to (family), but only on the main island (Tongatapu). But right now, it’s so hard because they only have 2G, so it’s not that good. I tried to call my sister, but because of all the people trying to reach their families back home I had to dial, like, 30 times before I could get a line to talk to her.”
“Some of the small islands were completely wiped off by the tsunami, and the survivors were moved to the main island,” Fakasieiki added.
Those survivors include the family of The Rev. Malachi Pahulu, associate pastor of Hilo United Methodist Church, who was on the mainland U.S. when contacted by the newspaper.
“My dad’s family is from the island of Mango, which is one of the islands where everything was destroyed, basically,” said Katrina Pahulu, the clergyman’s daughter. “No houses. Everything was destroyed. But the people who live there, they gathered them up and took them to the main island of Tongatapu.”
Katrina Pahulu said her mother’s family is from Tongatapu, where Nuku‘alofa is, and they have been in contact.
“My mom’s sister lives over there. They say they’re doing fine,” she said. “They’re now gathering people from two other islands so they can disburse them the aid that they’re getting among them, equally. They’re OK with food right now. Water is the main priority.”
About 50,000 people across Tonga remain in urgent need of safe drinking water, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund. The Tongan government has determined that groundwater and clean rainwater on Tongatapu are safe for consumption. However, groundwater on some islands was contaminated by saltwater intrusion, and many water reservoirs countrywide were contaminated by ashfall.
In addition, food security remains a significant concern across affected communities, as ashfall and saltwater intrusion have damaged or destroyed crops and fisheries and caused livestock deaths, according to the U.N.
Pahulu said Bishop Grant Hagiya of the United Methodist Church’s California-Pacific Conference has issued a call of prayer and support for Tonga, which includes a relief fund for those impacted in the island kingdom.
Donations can be sent to the California-Pacific Conference, P.O. Box 6006, Pasadena, CA 91102-6006. Please mark checks “Tongan Relief.” There’s also a box titled “Tongan Relief Fund” for online donations, which can be made at https://bit.ly/3Gc4Jqy.
“Our families have put our faith in God, and I think that’s what has helped our little nation,” Pahulu said. “Nobody knew that Tonga could survive an eruption like that. You know, you could see it from space.
“We’ve gone through many hardships, but we just want to thank God.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.