Nuku’alofa –
The eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano in Tonga two weeks ago unleashed an explosive power that dwarfed the power good atom Hiroshima year 1945 ago. Space Agency scientists United States of America (USA) or NASA estimate the eruption was hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
As reported AFP, Monday (24/1/2022), NASA Earth Observatory stated Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano spewed debris as high as 40 kilometers into the atmosphere when it erupted on January 15, triggering a massive tsunami in Tonga, the South Pacific.
“We think the amount of energy released by the eruption was equivalent to between five and 30 megatons (five to 30 million tons) of TNT,” said NASA scientist Kim Garvin in a press release.
NASA stated that the volcanic eruption in Tonga was hundreds of times more powerful than the US atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in August 1945, which was estimated to be equivalent to about 15 kilotons (15,000 tons) of TNT.
NASA said the eruption “obliterated” a volcanic island about 65 kilometers north of the capital Nuku’alofa in Tonga.
The volcanic eruption blanketed Tonga, a population of 100,000, in poisonous ash, making drinking water toxic, destroying crops and completely obliterating two local villages.
It was also reported that at least three people died in Tonga and two people drowned in Peru after high waves hit, which was the result of the tsunami in Tonga. Peruvian authorities also declared an environmental disaster after high waves hit an oil tanker near Lima and triggered a spill along the coast.
Watch the video ‘Expert’s Explosion of the Tonga Underwater Volcano Explosion’:
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