Tonga aftermath & Ken Ring

A week seems like a very long time at the moment! But just over a week ago, the island nation of Tonga experienced a huge volcanic eruption and resulting tsunami. The effect of the tsunami was made worse by the fact that the islands are low-lying so seeking high ground is all but impossible.

Communications with the islands were wiped out so discovering the extent of the damage has been quite difficult, but it luckily appears that the death toll is relatively low - standing at 3.

The really worrying thing about the eruption is the long term effects that it will have. The eruption spewed a huge amount of ash over the islands, which is likely to very badly affect crops and public health. Food supply could be affected for some time, and ash contamination of the water supply is also a concern.

Not to make light of the situation, but our local tsunami expert, Ken Ring, has weighed in on the situation. For those not familiar with Ken, he's a long-range weather forecaster who thinks the weather is caused by the moon. But, (not by his own admission) he barely gets any predictions right. And, the moon also causes earthquakes, and has some weird association with tsunamis. He seems committed to the position that tsunamis never affect New Zealand. Therefore, this one must have been a hoax! It's not completely clear, but he also may think that the eruption itself was fake! (We have video of it, but maybe that's easy to fake too!)

Ken Ring writes:

No one has died in Tonga. Now that the hype of the fake tsunami has come and gone, let's analyse what actually happened. They have been watching eruptions on this island in Tonga since December. It is creating new land. But it didn't attract attention until yesterday, when the fake news filled everybody's imagination with a sudden wild eruption, out of the blue, with a tsunami scare attached.

Sigh!