Stargazer Posted January 15, 2022 Posted January 15, 2022 @Tacenda brought it up in another thread, so I thought I should put a topic into play about the Tonga volcano and tsunami. There are 18,000 members of the Church living in Tonga (18% of the population), and there has been much damage so far -- not sure about injuries or deaths so far -- and much of the main island is without power. Here's the tsunami arriving in California today: 1
Tacenda Posted January 15, 2022 Posted January 15, 2022 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Stargazer said: @Tacenda brought it up in another thread, so I thought I should put a topic into play about the Tonga volcano and tsunami. There are 18,000 members of the Church living in Tonga (18% of the population), and there has been much damage so far -- not sure about injuries or deaths so far -- and much of the main island is without power. Here's the tsunami arriving in California today: Thanks for starting a topic. I just look around and nearly every day or week, there is weather/nature related catastrophes. Edited January 16, 2022 by Tacenda
bsjkki Posted January 16, 2022 Posted January 16, 2022 Still very spotty communications with Tonga. NZ is sending their navy tomorrow. 2 deaths in Peru from their tsunami. I guess they don’t have any active ham radio users. No power and unsure if their underwater cable is damaged.
Calm Posted January 16, 2022 Posted January 16, 2022 (edited) I wonder if the eruption with the ash helped screwed up communications or if it is solely a power thing. According to google, 90% of their energy is imported diesel. Added: there is a difference between internal and external communication Quote The company said it was working urgently with local authorities to “resolve the damage”, adding that its domestic mobile phone towers were operating across the main island of Tongatapu. https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/127512800/tonga-subsea-communications-cable-may-be-broken-after-all-says-southern-cross There is a problem with water contamination as well as many use rainfall harvesters. Interesting temperature picture of the plume as well as a better resolution animation at the bottom. https://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satellite-blog/archives/44214 Edited January 16, 2022 by Calm 1
Calm Posted January 16, 2022 Posted January 16, 2022 (edited) https://theconversation.com/why-the-volcanic-eruption-in-tonga-was-so-violent-and-what-to-expect-next-175035 Quote All these signs suggest the large Hunga caldera has awoken. Tsunami are generated by coupled atmospheric and ocean shock waves during an explosions, but they are also readily caused by submarine landslides and caldera collapses. It remains unclear if this is the climax of the eruption. It represents a major magma pressure release, which may settle the system. A warning, however, lies in geological deposits from the volcano’s previous eruptions. These complex sequences show each of the 1000-year major caldera eruption episodes involved many separate explosion events. Hence we could be in for several weeks or even years of major volcanic unrest from the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano. For the sake of the people of Tonga I hope not. Edited January 16, 2022 by Calm 1
bsjkki Posted January 16, 2022 Posted January 16, 2022 https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/127512800/tonga-subsea-communications-cable-may-be-broken-after-all-says-southern-cross
Calm Posted January 16, 2022 Posted January 16, 2022 The Pacific is so huge…add in the Indian Ocean, almost half the earth’s surface iirc. All that blue.. 1
The Nehor Posted January 16, 2022 Posted January 16, 2022 My ward is about 30% Tongan. We have a lot of people nervous about relatives. 2
bsjkki Posted January 17, 2022 Posted January 17, 2022 (edited) https://insiderpaper.com/another-large-eruption-detected-at-tonga-volcano-monitor/ Scary. Still no communications. NZ is sending in the navy. Planes don’t operate well with the ash. It’s shocking how they are so cut off in this day and age and for so long. I guess the sat phones aren’t working well either. I am monitoring for any news. My brother in law does ham radio. I guess there has not been an active operator in Tonga since 2019. But, they must have radios on the island. The ash probably interferes with that signal too. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/16/world/asia/toga-tsunami-peru.html Edited January 17, 2022 by bsjkki 1
bsjkki Posted January 17, 2022 Posted January 17, 2022 (edited) One leader from the church says they had contact from one leader on sat phone. He said they have no information on any surrounding islands. All the water is not contaminated. Trying to assess local needs and damage and help people get food and water. No status on missionaries. *Are their only local missionaries? Since covid, no travel has been allowed. Edited January 17, 2022 by bsjkki 1
The Nehor Posted January 17, 2022 Posted January 17, 2022 58 minutes ago, bsjkki said: https://insiderpaper.com/another-large-eruption-detected-at-tonga-volcano-monitor/ Scary. Still no communications. NZ is sending in the navy. Planes don’t operate well with the ash. It’s shocking how they are so cut off in this day and age and for so long. I guess the sat phones aren’t working well either. I am monitoring for any news. My brother in law does ham radio. I guess there has not been an active operator in Tonga since 2019. But, they must have radios on the island. The ash probably interferes with that signal too. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/16/world/asia/toga-tsunami-peru.html There have been communications via sat phones and ham radios and the like. The problem is that without internal communications or internal travel working you can only get anecdotal reports from very localized areas. It looks like they restored power to at least part of the capital. There are reports that not all freshwater has been contaminated but water may still be a problem depending on what is contaminated. One report suggests they may have mobile phone service up in the capital shortly. 1
bsjkki Posted January 17, 2022 Posted January 17, 2022 10 minutes ago, The Nehor said: There have been communications via sat phones and ham radios and the like. The problem is that without internal communications or internal travel working you can only get anecdotal reports from very localized areas. It looks like they restored power to at least part of the capital. There are reports that not all freshwater has been contaminated but water may still be a problem depending on what is contaminated. One report suggests they may have mobile phone service up in the capital shortly. There are not ham radios operating but sat phones have provided some spotty communication. Possibly some communication from boats. But, yes. No communication to outlying areas. Very local info when it gets through.
bsjkki Posted January 17, 2022 Posted January 17, 2022 (edited) Fake Edited January 17, 2022 by bsjkki
bsjkki Posted January 17, 2022 Posted January 17, 2022 (edited) Volcano Erupts Near Tonga Triggering Tsunami Waves, Flooding and Falling Ash (churchofjesuschrist.org) Information on what the church knows. "Church leaders in Tonga are not aware of any loss of life on Tongatapu, Tonga’s main island. Reports from outer islands are still being sought but communication lines being down and rough seas are hampering efforts, although the Tongan Navy has now been able to put to sea to gather further information. Missionaries serving in the Tonga Nuku’alofa Mission are safe. Due to communication channels being down to outer islands, no contact has been made, to this point, with missionaries in Tonga’s second mission, the Tonga Outer Island Mission. There is significant water damage to foreshore homes and businesses on Tongatapu. There is phone communication on Tongatapu but not internationally or between the Islands of Tonga. The International phone lines are not functioning due to what is suspected to be issues with the underwater communication cable. Edited January 17, 2022 by bsjkki
Calm Posted January 17, 2022 Posted January 17, 2022 (edited) If power is interrupting external communications, I assume that means an easier fix. Apparently it took two weeks to fix when a ship’s anchor caught, dragged and broke the cable a few years ago. (In the link about the cable I posted earlier). Edited January 17, 2022 by Calm
bsjkki Posted January 17, 2022 Posted January 17, 2022 5 minutes ago, Calm said: If power is interrupting external communications, I assume that means an easier fix. Apparently it took two weeks to fix when a ship’s anchor caught, dragged and broke the cable a few years ago. (In the link about the cable I posted earlier). Sadly, I have read they think it is a broken cable off shore. A longer fix. 1
Calm Posted January 17, 2022 Posted January 17, 2022 15 minutes ago, bsjkki said: Sadly, I have read they think it is a broken cable off shore. A longer fix. I wonder if there is a way to target where it is broken or if they have to start at one end or both and check all along till they find it…assuming damaged in one place.
bsjkki Posted January 17, 2022 Posted January 17, 2022 2 minutes ago, Calm said: I wonder if there is a way to target where it is broken or if they have to start at one end or both and check all along till they find it…assuming damaged in one place. I would post the article I just read but it's somewhere on my twitter feed. From what I read, they do have a contract with a repair vessel that is 4000 miles away. They are able to do some sort of ping test and it seems it is 35 kilometers off shore. It could take 1 to 2 weeks to fix but that is only if the ship can stage itself for the repairs because it is close to the volcano. It's complicated. 1
bsjkki Posted January 17, 2022 Posted January 17, 2022 https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300497686/tonga-volcano-ashcovered-runway-could-delay-air-force-landing-navy-to-head-north Will take a bit longer to clear the runway of ash. Hopefully, tomorrow. 1
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