Underwater volcano erupts in sight of Tongan capital

[Stacey King]

ABC RADIO AUSTRALIA -Pacific Beat
18 March 2009

An underwater volcanic eruption has sent up spectacular clouds of smoke, steam and ash within sight of the Tonga capital, Nukualofa, and a team from the Tongan Ministry of Lands is heading to the area west of the main island of Tongatapu by boat on Thursday to investigate the phenomenon, which began with an earthquake on Monday. A similar undersea eruption occurred in the same area in 2002, but eventually subsided.

Presenter Bruce Hill
Speaker: Tongan Government Geologist Kelepi Mafi

Listen: Windows Media

MAFI: We're just doing an observation, we cannot be able to go closer to the area, also we need to have a position of the estimated locations and also the estimated height of the smoke. It seems that there are two submarine volcanoes that are erupting, but at the moment when we look at it from Nukualofa it's like two submarine volcanoes, but that's yet to be confirmed.

HILL: Because it's so close to Tongatapu, the main inhabited island, is there any danger to people at all, it could spread or affect he main island?

MAFI: At the moment not really. It was a threat of some kind of small tsunami but not yet reports from anywhere here in Tonga that any such damage has been caused by a big wave or something like that. At the moment since it erupted on Monday nothing has been reported so far.

HILL: Has it caused much discussion around the place, are people talking about this thing? It must be unusual to actually see it from the main town?

MAFI: Yeah, yeah, it was surprising but some of them were really a little bit frightened, but aware of assurance to them that it's not really risky thing to have happened, provided a small eruption is taking place.

HILL: I imagine however it wouldn't be very safe for people to go over there and have a look in their own little boats, you'd probably want them to stay away from it?

MAFI: Yes it has been advised through the media that it's not advisable for any of the fishermen to go around in that area nor any people to go with their boats to this area because it's very risky in this vicinity.

HILL: If it is a submarine volcano what usually happens with these things? Do they actually usually, is there some land that comes up or is it just smoke and bubble and then it sort of just disappears again?

MAFI: In 2002 just only smoke came out. This one we haven't seen but I was thinking that it will be the same one.

HILL: So you think it might just eventually disappear beneath the waves again?

MAFI: Yeah I assume only just smoking come out from the surface of the water rather than actual lava being exposed.