Power of the volcanic eruption in Tonga was more than 100 times higher than the atomic bomb of Hiroshima

The force of the volcanic eruption in the archipelago of the islands Tonga, which occurred on January 15, far exceeded the power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima (Japan), NASA scientists said, while survivors of the natural disaster reported Monday that they had suffered a shock that “rattled their brains.”

According to NASA’s Earth Observatory, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano released a smoke mushroom that reached a height of 40 km after its eruption, which was heard as far away as Alaska, more than 9,000 km away, and caused a tsunami.

NASA claimed that this eruption was several hundred times more powerful than the US atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in August 1945, which was estimated at 15 kt (one kiloton equals 1,000 tons) of TNT.

“We calculated that the amount of energy released by the eruption was equivalent to between 5 and 30 mt (one megaton = 1,000 kt),” said NASA scientist Jim Garvin, in a publication released on Sunday night.

The agency said the eruption “annihilated” the volcanic island, located 65 km north of the Tongan capital Nuku’alofa.

Something so far “never experienced”

The natural disaster covered the island kingdom — with a population of some 100,000 people — in a layer of toxic ash, contaminating drinking water, destroying agricultural crops and completely razing at least two villages.

It claimed at least three lives in Tonga and caused two bathers to drown in Peru, whose shores were lashed by exceptionally high waves caused by the eruption.

Peruvian authorities announced a 90-day “environmental emergency” in the coastal area, damaged by a 6,000-barrel oil spill a week ago, which continues to spread and contaminate the region to the despair of its inhabitants.

In Tonga, the extent of the damage is still uncertain, not least because communications are still down.

Its impact “far exceeded anything else that people here have experienced,” Nuku’alofa-based journalist Mary Lyn Fonua told AFP.

“The shock wave from the eruption shook our brains,” she said, adding that the very fine layer of grayish ash that covers everything makes life difficult for the inhabitants.

“It seeps everywhere, it irritates the eyes, it causes sores at the corner of the mouth, everyone has blackened fingernails. We look like a bunch of filthy people,” she said.

Japanese, New Zealand and Australian defense forces are providing emergency aid, including drinking water, while maintaining strict Covid-19 protocols to preserve the archipelago from the pandemic.