Tonga races to clear runway for volcano aid flights

Tongans raced on Jan. 19 to clear a thick coat of ash from the main international runway to let in emergency aid, as the island nation faced a month of crippled international communications following a violent volcanic eruption and tsunami.The

Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano erupted 30 kilometres (19 miles) into the air on Saturday sending ash, gas and acid rain across a large area of the Pacific.

It released an enormous pressure wave that traversed the planet, travelling at supersonic speed at about 1,231 kilometres per hour (764 miles per hour), New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research said.
In the tsunami that followed, waves in Tonga rose up to 15 metres (50 feet) in some areas, the small Pacific island nation's government said in a statement.

Three people were killed and "a number" were injured, the Tongan government said, calling the volcano explosion "an unprecedented disaster."
The ashfall and tsunami affected more than 100,000 people, virtually the entire Tongan population, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) said in an update, quoting the Tonga Red Cross Society.
Australia and New Zealand have military transport C-130 aircraft ready to fly when ash has been removed from the main island.

Ash particles pose a threat to modern jet aircraft, including by melting and accumulating in the engines.
A thicker-than-expected blanket of five to 10 centimetres (two to four inches) of ash had accumulated on the main island Tongatapu's runway, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. It expected the runway to be clear soon.
"The ash has proven more difficult to clear than was expected," said Jonathan Veitch, Fiji-based UN...