I was afraid straight away
because it was so close, the, the volcano, to the main island where we are.
We expected that there will be a tsunami at that time.
The radio station, it's about 380 metres from the ocean.
When we were driving towards the waterfront, down here
to the station, a lot of vehicles are coming inland
starting to evacuate. Then straightaway after the tsunami.
And we could use our mobile phones locally.
But in terms of international communication, it was all cut off.
We managed to broadcast throughout the night.
We were the only radio that was on at that night.
Next day
it was all black, covered with the ash.
We allow people to talk on air at that time
just to make sure that everyone is okay.
The families, they were very concerned about the situation,
not knowing how these people, you know, along the waterfront are,
and even their relatives on the other islands.
We were trying to reconnect some of the families.
They were calling in and tell us two of our children,
they went on a picnic to the western side of the island.
They haven't heard from them.
Once they hung up the phone, there was
someone else called to just to inform.
They are here. Well and safe with us.
You know, it's like comforting families and also the people of Tonga.
I was posted to Tonga as the maritime
surveillance adviser to the Tongan Royal Navy
from January 2020 until July 2022.
I first met Viola Ulakai through her husband.
Captain Siona Ulakai,
he’s the deputy chief of defense staff for His Majesty's Armed Forces.
Viola Ulakai is a phenomenal woman.
She was the voice of the Hunga Tonga response.
I think that her role was pivotal in making sure that people felt
safe, secure and comforted in a really, really difficult time.
We were trying to talk to the public.
Not only that, but also to authorities like the Minister of Health.
He was talking to the public, giving advice to them
because the water tank, it was already covered with the ash.
I had one of the few working satellite
phones in Tonga. On the Sunday, once that we had a clear sky,
I was able to call the Tongan Royal Navy boats.
They sailed as the first wave was hitting, which I just can't believe
that amount of bravery to be able to do that is phenomenal.
That night they saved 48 people.
As a boat went to each island
They would report back on the extent of the damage
to infrastructure and buildings and how many personnel,
how many injuries, how many casualties, how many fatalities.
As they were doing that, they were dropping off water
and some supplies.
So the entire of Mango Island was evacuated
back to Tongatapu.
And when that vessel came in, it was just on dusk.
It was very still. There was no wind.
And you could hear as the boat approached, you could hear the singing.
The people of Mango were singing hymns of praise
and thanks that they had made it.
And as each person got off that boat,
every member of cabinet hugged them.
Every single human that got off that boat and they got off with nothing.
And to see that and to see that love, that gratitude,
that resilience will always stick with me.
The nature of
the disaster, the volcanic eruption in
there comes a tsunami and then the spread of COVID 19.
It was too much.
But then with the courage that we had, we have to face it.
At the time of the Honga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai
volcanic eruption, we had no confirmed cases of COVID,
and they did not want to introduce another risk on top of what they already had.
I was responsible for liaising and coordinating
with all Tonga's international partners.
My goal in managing the risk was to make it as contactless as possible.
So for example, each nation was expected
to bring their own people ashore onto the wharf and it was 72 hours
for the goods to sit there before they was distributed.
The challenges in terms of getting it to the right people.
And that's where Viola became so important
in her role, was to make sure that she got the information out there to
when and where things would be distributed.
Makaila’s
Panagia is really like a real Tongan.
She was assigned to work with those
naval ships that brought all those stuff to Tonga.
So she liaised with them and she advised us.
And one of the things we did was to do a blanket COVID
test of all staff and all personnel.
And it was during that testing that two people tested positive to COVID.
It was really hard for us to manage that
because a lot of our colleagues, they got the COVID 19.
We had to make sure that
there would still be someone here to go on air.
But then I think we were lucky because Tonga
had enough time to take the vaccination.
All those catastrophes for us here in Tonga
we're still trying to recover.
But then at the same time, we've managed to handle it.
We've got to be resilient.