Tonga, a Pacific country, was hit by tsunami waves after an underwater volcano eruption.
Tonga Geological Services said gas smoke and ash plumes reached 20km into the sky when the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai volcano occurred at 0410 GMT and the eight-minute initial eruption was heard across the South Pacific, reportedly as far as New Zealand and Australia.
Images and footage from social media captured the moment as people fled to safety.
Meanwhile, communications and power were reportedly out across Tonga’s main island.
Here are 10 videos and images that illustrate what occurred:
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Satellite image captures Tonga’s Hunga volcano erupting. Screengrab
(USStormWatch / Twitter)Professor Shane Cronin of the University of Auckland is a volcanologist. He said the eruption was one of Tonga’s largest in 30 years.
“This is a pretty big event – it’s one of the more significant eruptions of the last decade at least,” According to him, the BBC.
“The most remarkable thing about it is how rapidly and violently it’s spread. This one was larger, a much wider lateral spread, much more ash was produced. I expect there to be many centimetres of ash that have been deposited on Tonga.”