Tonga volcanic eruption equal to 500 Hiroshimas
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A massive volcanic eruption in Tonga screamed volumes across the oceans.
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Ash-cloud-generated lighting is visible during the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano.
Tonga has experienced a volcanic eruption that has made Hiroshima look like a small explosion. Survivors of the volcanic eruption described how the Pacific blast "messed up our brains."
According to NASA, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano shot debris some 40 kilometers into the sky during its eruption on January 15, which led to enormous tsunami waves.
"We think the amount of energy released by the eruption was equivalent to somewhere between 5 to 30 million tonnes of TNT," NASA scientist Jim Garvin revealed in a press release.
The scientist said the volcanic eruption is about 500 times the intensity of the nuclear bomb the US dropped on Hiroshima during WWII.
According to NASA, the eruption "obliterated" the volcanic island 65 kilometers north of the capital, Nuku'alofa. The island saw carpets of toxic ash and destroyed crops. Drinking water was poisoned, and two villages were completely wiped out.
The eruption killed 3 on the island, as well as 2 on a Peru beach after gigantic waves claimed them.
An environmental disaster
An oil tanker near Lima, the capital of Peru, was hit by the gigantic waves resulting from the eruption. Authorities in the Latin American country declared a state of environmental disaster, as the event caused a massive oil slick along the coast.
In Tonga, however, how far the destruction has gone is still to be assessed. The event disrupted communications to remote islands.
A journalist based in the capital, Mary Lyn Fonua, said that Tongans were still trying to fathom the scale of the disaster.
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An aerial view of the heavy ash covering Nomuka, Tonga.
"It's so beyond what anyone here has ever experienced," she told AFP. "The shockwave from the eruption just messed up our brains, we're just starting to return to normal now."
The fine grey grime coating covering the country's surfaces has raised concerns regarding the long-term health effects which may result from the eruption, Fonua expressed.
"It gets everywhere," she said. "It irritates your eyes, you get sores in the corner of your mouth, everyone has blackened fingernails -- we look like a grubby lot."
"We need a good tropical deluge to wash everything away."
The International Federation of Red Cross has sent workers on the ground in Tonga, stressing an urgent need for drinking water.
UNICEF, on the other hand, is shipping emergency supplies from Australia and is working with the government in Tonga to receive aid.
