Planes and ships bring aid to tsunami-ravaged Tonga

Aid workers in Tonga
(Image credit: CARLOS REYES/AFP via Getty Images)

Planes carrying aid from Australia, New Zealand, and Japan reached Tonga over the weekend, providing food, water, medical supplies, and communication equipment to the isolated, tsunami-ravaged archipelago, ABC News reported.

It was initially impossible to deliver aid by air because all of the archipelago's airports were either damaged in the disaster or closed due to ashfall.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Tonga has so far remained almost entirely free of the virus. The country's only confirmed case to date was detected in an air traveler from New Zealand in October, NPR reported.

The Royal New Zealand Navy's largest ship, NMNZS Aotearoa, arrived Friday, carrying a load of fresh water and a desalination plant capable of purifying 70,000 liters per day.

According to Reuters, Tonga's islands remain blanketed in ash and largely cut off from the outside world as a result of damage to their primary submarine cable.

Tonga was struck by a tsunami and covered with ash after an undersea volcano erupted 40 miles south of the capital city on Jan. 15. At least three people were killed.

Explore More
Grayson Quay

Grayson Quay was the weekend editor at TheWeek.com. His writing has also been published in National Review, the Pittsburgh Post-GazetteModern AgeThe American ConservativeThe Spectator World, and other outlets. Grayson earned his M.A. from Georgetown University in 2019.