PINA

Tongans on the ground are doing what they can to help one another in the wake of the volcano disaster. Director of Tonga's Women and Children's Crisis Centre Ofa Guttenbeil-Likiliki said the country has avoided a “bigger chaos” by keeping COVID-19 at bay so far. “We're taking precautions because we have very limited health resources,” she said. “We could have had a...

The United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is providing an additional US$2.5 million in humanitarian assistance to support people affected by volcanic eruptions and tsunami waves in Tonga. On 15 January, Tonga’s Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano began erupting. A strong second eruption triggered tsunami waves that reached Tonga and many other Pacific Island countries. The eruptions...

Marian Tukuafu couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the damage a huge tsunami wreaked on her once-pristine beachfront resort on Tonga's main island. “It's like a bomb hit this place, it's like a war zone,” Tukuafu told Pacific Beat. She managed to evacuate Vakaloa Beach Resort on the western coast of Tongatapu moments before the tsunami hit on 15 January. While...

The global rugby family is uniting to support those affected by the devastating volcanic eruption and tsunami that hit Tonga. With homes damaged or destroyed by the initial blast and ensuing tsunami and fresh drinking water, agricultural production and public services disrupted by layers of volcanic ash and salt water dumped on the Pacific Island nation, rugby’s major stakeholders have...

Papua New Guinea Hunters coach Matthew Church has named his final 26-man squad. This means four players from the 30-man pre-season training squad will be released while the selected players will depart on Friday for the Gold Coast, where they will be based in the Runaway Bay. This pre-season, the ninth of the South Pacific Brewery-sponsored club, has seen the highest...

Uncertainty surrounds Australia's latest aid mission to Tonga, after almost two dozen personnel on a navy ship carrying humanitarian supplies to the country tested positive to COVID-19. Australia and several other countries are sending crucial supplies to Tonga in the wake of last week's huge volcanic eruption and tsunami, but the Pacific Island nation is determined to remain COVID-free and...

The guided-missile destroyer USS Sampson is continuing to assist with disaster assessment and relief efforts for the remote islands of Tonga ravaged by a volcanic eruption and tsunami. The ship arrived in the vicinity of Tonga on Wednesday, five days after the eruption, Captain Kyle Raines, a spokesman for U.S Indo-Pacific Command, said in an email Monday. Over the weekend, an...

India on Tuesday expressed “deep sympathy” to the tsunami-hit Kingdom of Tonga in the Pacific Ocean and extended an immediate relief assistance of US$200,000 to deal with the disaster that was triggered by the explosion of a massive underwater volcano. Tonga is a member of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) and bilateral relations between the scenic archipelago nation...

Lockdowns in Samoa and the Solomon Islands were extended Tuesday as Covid-19 outbreaks worsened in remote Pacific island nations that have previously held the pandemic at bay. Pacific nations, many just dots in the vast ocean, successfully used their isolation as a buffer to the pandemic when they closed their borders in early 2020. But two years later, the hyper-transmissible Omicron...

There is doubt in French Polynesia that the territory can sustain several domestic airlines. New carriers are being launched to challenge the dominant position of Air Tahiti, which flies to more than 40 island destinations. Newly approved airlines Motu Link and Air Moana hope to start flying from Tahiti to the most popular destinations, mainly in the Society Islands and the...