French Polynesia will send Friday from Tahiti food, water and clothing to the Tonga Islands, devastated by a volcanic eruption, said Wednesday, January 26 the services of this overseas community. These assistance missions are complicated by Tonga's refusal to contact the crews, in order to preserve this archipelago from Covid-19 which has not yet reached these remote islands in the South Pacific.
"I'm trying to get Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni to come down for an hour, but they didn't make any exceptions for anyone,"
Manuel Terai, French Polynesia's international affairs delegate, told AFP. and coordinator of this mission for the overseas community.
Read alsoTonga: 80% of the population affected by the eruption of the volcano and the tsunami, according to the UN
The departure of the ship Tahiti Nui is scheduled for Friday, with 120 drinking water tanks from 500 to 2000 liters, the water in Tonga having been polluted by the fallout of ash.
French Polynesia also delivers 210 tarpaulins intended to protect the roofs of houses, as well as chainsaws.
The local government has mobilized the Churches and the population for donations of food and clothing, for a total of a thousand cubic meters of freight, assured Manuel Terai.
It will take four and a half days at sea in Tahiti Nui to reach Tonga from Tahiti.
But this mission could be disrupted, according to Manuel Terai, by a tropical depression expected on January 29 and by the signs of awakening of another volcano, in the Vanuatu islands.
A French patrol boat, the
Arago
, left Papeete on Friday with 40 tonnes of cargo on board for a scheduled arrival on January 29 in Tonga.
In particular, it will deliver equipment to build emergency shelters (500 tents, ropes, tools), hygiene kits and solar lamps, as well as water and food rations.
Another French patrol boat,
La Glorieuse
, brings ten tons of cargo from New Caledonia.
The equipment will be deposited on an island of the archipelago, according to the needs identified on the spot, before being recovered by the Tongans.
Read alsoThe first emergency aid planes have arrived in Tonga
France also deployed a Falcon Guardian plane from Nouméa on Tuesday for a reconnaissance flight over the isolated islands and a Casa plane should deliver emergency resources on Wednesday.
In Oceania, assistance in the event of a humanitarian disaster is deployed by the FRANZ mechanism: France, Australia and New Zealand coordinate their means, particularly military.