Nuku’alofa –
Inhabitant Tonga panicked and tried to escape to higher ground when tsunami waves triggered by the eruption of an underwater volcano, Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, which hit on Saturday (15/1) local time. One resident said that people’s screams could be heard when the tsunami hit.
As reported by New Zealand media, Stuff.co.nz, Saturday (15/1/2022), a Tongan resident in the South Pacific, Mere Taufa, said he was preparing to have dinner when the eruption occurred. Taufa said that mountain eruption Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai was so terrible that his house shook.
“It was very big, the ground shook, our house shook. It felt gradual, my younger brother thought there was a bomb going off near us,” said Taufa.
“My first instinct was to take cover under the table, I grabbed my little sister and screamed at my parents and everyone else in the house to do the same.”
A few minutes later, said Taufa, his house was hit by a sudden wave of water. “We immediately knew it was a tsunami. Water entered our house,” he said.
From the window of his house, Taufa could see the wall of one of his neighbors’ house collapsed due to the brunt of the tsunami.
“You could hear screams everywhere, people screaming for safety, for everyone to go to higher ground,” said Taufa.
An Australian Bureau of Meteorology notification via Twitter said a 1.2 meter high tsunami was observed in Nuku’alofa. However, it was also mentioned that the maximum height of tsunami waves recorded after the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano only reached 30 centimeters.
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