A cleaning crew work to remove oil from a beach in the Peruvian province of Callao on Jan 17. A spill occurred after waves caused by the volcanic eruption in Tonga moved a ship that was transferring oil at a refinery. (CRIS BOURONCLE / AFP)

China has donated $100,000 to Tonga after a tsunami hit the South Pacific nation on Jan 15 following the eruption of an underwater volcano, affecting its 105,000 residents scattered across its 170 islands.

“The Red Cross Society of China has decided to provide $100,000 of emergency humanitarian assistance in cash to Tonga,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Jan 17.

China will provide further assistance according to the situation and Tonga’s needs, he added.

On Jan 19, President Xi Jinping sent a message of sympathy to King Tupou VI of Tonga over the nation’s suffering from the volcanic eruption and tsunami, saying that China will do its best to help the people of the Pacific island country get through the disaster and rebuild their homes.

On behalf of the Chinese government and people, as well as in his own name, Xi expressed heartfelt sympathy to the government and people of Tonga, adding that the two nations are comprehensive strategic partners that support each other and always stand in solidarity.

Premier Li Keqiang also sent a message of sympathy to Siaosi Solaveni, the prime minister of Tonga, on Jan 19.

On Jan 17, Australia and New Zealand sent surveillance flights to assess the damage in Tonga with initial reports saying that “there were no mass casualties, but significant damage to coastal properties and resorts”.

The tsunami was triggered after an underwater volcano erupted about 65 kilometers north of the Tongan capital, Nuku’alofa. Tonga’s small outer islands suffered extensive damage, with an entire village destroyed and many buildings missing, a Tongan diplomat said on Jan 18.

Curtis Tu’ihalangingie, Tonga’s deputy head of mission in Australia, told Reuters that images taken by New Zealand Defense Force reconnaissance flights showed “alarming” scenes of a village destroyed on Mango island and buildings missing on nearby Atata island.

Atata has a population of about 100 people and Mango about 50.

Tonga’s government confirmed on Jan 18 three fatalities in its first official update and said the evacuation of some outlying islands had begun after the destruction of homes.

The archipelago’s main airport, Fua’amotu International Airport, was not damaged in the Jan 15 disaster, but heavy ashfall prevented full operations.

On Jan 19, workers finished removing ash from the airport runway after days of painstaking effort, clearing the way for desperately needed emergency aid to arrive in the nation.

The United Nations’ crisis coordinator Jonathan Veitch told Agence France-Presse that the runway on the Pacific kingdom’s main island, once buried in five to 10 centimeters of volcanic ash, was again operational.

It is “cleared but not in use yet”, he said, adding that Tonga could receive much-stalled flights from Australia and New Zealand soon.

Meanwhile, Tonga, which is free of COVID-19, is worried that aid deliveries might introduce the coronavirus to the country. 

“We don’t want to bring in another wave — a tsunami of COVID-19,” Tu’ihalangingie said. 

The volcanic eruption caused tsunamis from Japan to the United States with waves up to 3 meters high.

Two people drowned in the Lambayeque region of northern Peru on Jan 15 after unusually high waves were recorded in several coastal areas, Peru’s National Institute of Civil Defense said in a statement.

Andrew Tupper, principal consultant with Natural Hazards Consulting, an Australia-based hazard warning and response consultancy, said the volcanic eruption near Tonga only reinforces the urgent need “for global cooperation on hazards of all kinds”.

“Our cooperation as a global community helps us all manage these events, including the impacted countries. But there’s lots more to do as we work to manage natural hazards together, better, globally,” Tupper told China Daily in an email.

Chris Firth, a volcanologist with Sydney’s Macquarie University, said that apart from tsunamis, the other major concern will be with ashfall.

“This ash covers buildings and infrastructure making recovery difficult, buries gardens and impacts plants with consequences for food supply, and is likely to contaminate water supplies. Ash is also hampering rescue and relief efforts as aircraft cannot fly through it,” he said.

Around 1,800 meters high and nearly 20 km wide, the volcano was hidden under water. Satellite imagery on Jan 16 showed ash covering Tonga and parts of Fiji, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Samoa.

Heather Handley, a volcanologist and adjunct associate professor at Monash University in Melbourne, said the volcano is located in part of the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire.

“What we don’t know is whether the volcano will produce another large-scale eruption or whether activity will decline. But volcanic activity, however, is likely to continue over the coming days,” she said.

Xu Wei in Beijing and agencies contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at wangxu@chinadaily.com.cn