The eruption of the submarine volcano in Tonga released explosive forces that overshadowed the intensity of the atomic bomb of Hiroshima, NASA scientists announced, with survivors describing today that the catastrophic eruption “shocked” us.
NASA’s Ground Observatory says the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano spewed fire, lava and ash into the atmosphere at a height of 40 kilometers when it erupted on January 15, causing huge tsunami waves.
“We estimate that the amount of energy released by the explosion was equivalent to 5 to 30 megatons (that is, 5 to 30 million tons) of (explosive) TNT,” NASA official Jim Garvin said in a press release.
According to NASA, the explosion was hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped by the United States on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in August 1945, which is estimated at about 15 kilotons (15,000 tons) of TNT.
The agency said the eruption “completely destroyed” part of the volcanic island about 65 kilometers north of Tonga’s capital, Nuku’alofa.
It completely covered this island of about 100,000 inhabitants with a layer of toxic dust, contaminating drinking water, destroying crops and literally leveling at least two villages.
It also claimed the lives of at least three people in Tonga and resulted in the drowning of two bathers in Peru when giant waves hit the South American country.
Peruvian authorities declared environmental disaster when the waves hit an oil tanker unloading near Lima, creating a huge oil spill along the coast.
In Tonga, the extent of the disaster remains unclear as communications to remote islands have been cut off.
Troops from Japan, New Zealand and Australia have begun delivering urgent supplies of basic necessities, mainly drinking water, while adhering to strict coronavirus protocols to maintain Tonga’s virus-free status.
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