Tonga

Aotearoa Tonga Relief Committee co-chair, Anahila Kanongata'a-Suisuiki, said it has been overwhelming to see more than 20 pastors and their wives handing over the goods.

She said the distribution system in Tonga has changed, people can now pick up their barrels via contactless methods from the wharf.

Thirteen Churches were represented by their leaders who offloaded the goods themselves by hand.

Aotearoa Tonga Relief Committee spokesperson Jenny Salesa said this is a representation of the hundreds of years of love between Samoa and Tonga.

RFMF Commander, Major-General Ro Jone Kalouniwai said the contingent has been divided into two groups.

The first group comprising 32 soldiers were airlifted on a C117 aircraft from Brisbane to Tongatapu.

The soldiers flew to Brisbane last month where they completed quarantine requirements.

Kalouniwai said the other 19 personnel will be maintained as the rear party and will depart on the HMAS Canberra over the next few days to hand over with the HMAS Adelaide that is currently in Tonga.

Digicel Tonga CEO, Anthony Seuseu, said; “We are thrilled to get internet connectivity back up in the Kingdom. Apart from our prepaid customers, we also managed to connect some business customers - ANZ, BSP and the National Reserve Bank of Tonga, Tonga Power, Lulutai Airlines, Air New Zealand and the Western Union.”

ANZ Bank Tonga’s Senior IT Support Officer, Maikolo Pifeleti thanked the Digicel team for their hard work and resilience during this difficult time.

The volcanic eruption and tsunami hit the island nation on Saturday, sweeping Atata local Lisala Folau out to sea.

Mr Folau told the BBC that he held on to a floating log during his 27-hour ordeal at sea, before finally reaching the shore again.

Tonga has confirmed three deaths though the extent of damage is still unknown.

Mr Folau, 57, told the BBC's Newsday programme he was scared when he saw the wave approach, but "I had my faith in God he would save me".

The service was restored following the set-up of a satellite link which had capacity limitations.

Digicel Regional CEO, Shally Jannif, said; “As soon as the link was opened up and international calls got restored last night, we saw an influx of callers as there were up to 200 simultaneous calls. We know that a lot of people tried to call their loved ones in Tonga but were having issues with connection. Today, our technical team did further upgrades on the link and we are pleased to announce that now 400 calls can be done at a time.”

They show the Pacific islands blanketed in a layer of volcanic ash, while in coastal areas the waves have torn down trees and ripped buildings apart.

Saturday's tsunami left at least three dead - including a British national - and crippled communications.

International phone links are said to have been restored but a severed undersea cable may take weeks to fix.

That means Tonga remains largely cut off from the outside world, with little known about the scale of destruction.

Our domestic network in Tongatapu is active and we are working to restore international connectivity. Digicel’s engineers and the technical team are working on the issues and hope to have them resolved in the shortest time possible.

Some of the islands' communications and power have now been restored, but the internet may be out for a while longer because of damage to an undersea cable.

After the eruption, Tonga's main island was blanketed in ash and its western coastline is said to be devastated.

"We're getting sketchy information, but it looks like the cable has been cut," the Southern Cross Cable Network's networks director Dean Veverka told the AFP news agency.

The Met Services said the volcanic eruption continues, and its activities slightly diminished in the past 6 hours.

“However, the ash plume has become widespread over Tonga and eastern Fiji but could potentially reach the south of Samoa in the upper levels of the atmosphere.”

“Based on the latest report from VAAC Wellington there is a chance that some ash may linger within our area from this time onwards.”

Hence risk for Samoa is elevated from LOW to MODERATE.

Puna said like the rest of the Forum family, he is shocked by the volcanic eruptions in Tonga.

“Even from the relative safety of Suva, we could feel and hear the eruptions which rocked the Kingdom and large parts of the region to its core.”

Puna said he is anxious about the safety and welfare of the people of Tonga and pledge the resources of the Pacific Islands Forum to Tonga.

He will try and speak with the Prime Minister once communications have been restored.