When Tonga's Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano erupted, the blast was so deafening that fleeing families could only wave to their loved ones to run, according to some of the first witness accounts to emerge from the Pacific Island nation.
"The first explosion … our ears were ringing and we couldn't even hear each other, so all we do is pointing to our families to get up, get ready to run," local journalist Marian Kupu said.
"We evacuated and then we, all our families, were just running away from the Kolovai area, because Kolovai is right beside the seashore," Kupu said, explaining the chaotic scenes just outside the capital Nuku'alofa on Saturday evening.
The volcanic explosion triggered a tsunami with waves of up to 15 metres, killing at least three people and destroying houses and buildings across Tonga.
It also sent a thick plume of ash over the country, prompting authorities to ask people to wear masks and drink bottled water and delaying Australian and New Zealand aid efforts.
"The dust is on rooftops, trees, everywhere," Kupu said.
"What we are concerned about now is clean drinking water.
When asked about food supplies for Tonga's estimated 105,000 people, Kupu said: "Maybe we can survive for the next few weeks, but I'm not sure about water."
The power supply to the capital and elsewhere was still fragile.
"Electricity is back, but it's on and off," Kupu said.
"This is due to a lot of ash on transformers, and street lights have been damaged.
"Some outages last for hours, some last for days."
Family forced to climb trees to escape tsunami
The lack of information coming out of Tonga has worried relatives in Australia.
Tricia Emberson tried unsuccessfully to get in touch with her family for days, before getting through early on Thursday morning Australian time.
"It's been quite stressful just not knowing what's going on, and the little tidbits of information that you actually see [are worrying]," Ms Emberson told the ABC.
"I actually had to stop looking at social media."
Ms Emberson said she tried about 40 times before she reached her uncle on the phone.
"It was about four o'clock this morning finally someone answered the phone … I had three different numbers I was calling," she said.
"Just to hear their voices was really great, but then to hear what they went through was hard."
She said her family had just 30 minutes to get themselves to the middle of Pangaimotu Island — off the coast of Tonga's main island — and into trees before the tsunami hit.
"And then once the wave went back, they went and looked for a tarpaulin which they put over the top of them.
"They slept under that all night until the next day [when] my husband went to rescue them in his boat."
She said her uncle had been left with nothing.
"It's kind of like, 'What do you do next?' and I'm not really sure … I think just for me it was the relief of knowing they were alive."
'Still waiting anxiously'
For Reverend Lavingi Fine-Tupou, it has been a week of sleepless nights.
"It's heartening to see other posts from people that they have already contacted their families," the Melbourne-based Tongan community leader said.
While some communication with the disaster-struck nation has been re-established, the nation remains mostly cut off due to the eruption severing Tonga's sole underwater internet cable, which connects it with neighbouring Fiji.
United Nations officials estimate about 80 per cent of Tonga's population has been directly impacted by the disaster.
"We are still waiting anxiously to hear from especially my brother and his family," Reverend Fine-Tupou said.
"And also my husband's niece and her little family."
'Where are they going to live?'
Melbourne man Manono Monu lived in the rural village of Kanokupolu until he was in his 30s.
His island hometown has been razed.
Like Reverend Fine-Tupou, he has not been able to sleep for days.
Strict Australian and Tongan border closures due to COVID-19 have meant he has not been in Tonga since 2018.
However, he has managed to meet with his 75-year-old mother in New Zealand during the pandemic.
Mr Monu has not been able to speak with his mother or other relatives since the volcano exploded, but Australian officials have told him they are safely at a shelter.
His biggest fears are around the lasting impacts of the eruption and tsunami.
Mr Monu said the destruction of crops by salt water was devastating, as was the potential impact on livestock and coconut plantations.
"It could take a good five years to recover the crops, to go back to normal," he said.
"It's what they live on. They live on the land."
Combined with rising sea levels caused by climate change, Mr Monu said the future looked bleak for Tonga.
"Where are they going to live? Ending up under the seabed, I guess," he said.
"Why don't we give them asylum visas?"
ABC/wires
