The main airport runway of Tonga has been cleared of ash spewed when the nearby Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai volcano erupted a week ago, and aid flights from Australia, Japan and New Zealand carrying food, water, medical supplies and telecommunications equipment landed in the Pacific nation over the weekend as it grapples with the aftermath of the underwater volcanic eruption and tsunami. However, the communication void that has ensued in the nation has been detrimental to quelling the fears of those who haven't heard from their loved ones since the disaster.
"The worst fear is always that you're not going to see the people that you love again," says Seini Taumoepeau, a Tongan-Australian artist and activist based in Sydney, as she waits to hear from her family.
"The worst fear is the suffering of other people, that's hard to cope with. Probably even more than your own suffering," Taumoepeau says as she holds back tears.
Taumoepeau, who was born in Australia but spent part of her childhood in Tonga, said she has "hundreds of close and extended family members" across villages and towns in the Pacific archipelago, but stresses that all Tongans feel a kinship with each other.
"Our ability to empathize with each other is quite massive," she said. "When somebody else loses a parent, we all feel it."
Taumoepeau returned to Australia when she was 8 years old. She has yet to have contact with any of her relatives in Tonga since the volcano erupted, damaging the island nation's main undersea communications cable.
With telephone and internet links severed, relatives in Australia and New Zealand are praying for their families.
"At the moment we've had no contact at all with anyone from Tonga since ... before the volcano had hit and then everything went dark," said Taumoepeau.
Seeing footage of the destruction to the island being broadcast around the world has added to the sense of disbelief.
"It kind of comes to life right in front of your eyes, and especially being able to have satellite footage and that kind of thing, it's really quite, almost a disembodying feeling."
Tonga's small outer islands suffered extensive damage from the volcanic eruption and tsunami, with an entire village destroyed and many buildings missing, a Tongan diplomat said on Tuesday, raising fears of more deaths and injuries.
