The Pacific island’s communication infrastructure has been cut since the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted on Saturday, January 15, damaging the undersea fibre optic cable and smashing the islands with 15-metre (50ft) waves.
With three confirmed casualties, there is now a huge clean-up operation and a State of Emergency has been declared.
Auburn resident Nonu Bohiva has had many sleepless nights.
“My 14-year-old daughter Tania lives there with her mother and I am still waiting to hear from my five brothers,” he said.
“It’s heartbreaking, a terrible tragedy and I keep thinking about what my daughter must have gone through and how terrifying it must have been.
“There’s a lot of ash still in the air so I believe the priority there would be to get access to clean air and drinking water; most of the homes and businesses are gone.”
A literacy movement devoted to empowering marginalised communities in Western Sydney, Sweatshop is donating the sales of two of its books, Sweatshop Women: Volumes 1 and 2, from now until February 1, to the fundraising page for Tonga set up by Pita Taufatofua, the ‘shirtless’ Tongan Olympic flag bearer in Rio in 2016.
Sweatshop general manager Winnie Dunn, whose grandma is Tongan, is also awaiting news of family and is grateful more lives were not lost.
“It’s surprising that more people were not hurt but Tongans are smart and you grow up there with the knowledge that if there is a cyclone, for example, you need to get to higher ground fast,” she said.
Further info at sweatshop.ws or donate at gofundme.com/f/tonga-tsunami-relief.
