Eruption in Tonga
p. 12 · Read in the full issue
Craters Overflow
TT was reported from Nukualofa, Tonga, on December 8, that the craters Aho fakatau and Hina, on Niuafoou Island, in the Tongan group, erupted on Saturday, December 7. The two intervening craters also remain active, and all four are now throwing flames seventy feet high.
Lava is flowing into the sea along a two-mile front, from an area of molten lava, estimated at 1500 acres. Steam is rising from the sea upwards of a mile out.
Two villages (Belani and Togamamao) have been evacuated as a precaution.
There has been no loss of life, but some plantations on the fringe of the old lava field were destroyed.
The eruption is believed to be bigger than the one which occurred in 1929, and was preceded by 20 earthquake shocks, accompanied by electrical disturbance and torrential rain.