Cost of Tonga volcanic eruption estimated to be $175m

Tonga’s Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni looks battle-weary but there’s still fight left in him yet.

Sworn into his leadership role just two weeks before a volcanic explosion which caused a tsunami to rip though many parts of the Kingdom, he says his first term in office has been a challenge.

“Last Wednesday when we flew out from Tonga it was one hundred days in office and it feels like more than a hundred days,” he said.

The damage and loss has been estimated at about a quarter of the country’s GDP and basic clean-ups in some of the worst hit areas is still yet to be done.

That’s because the Kingdom’s first outbreak of COVID-19 which has involved six deaths and more than six thousand cases has meant strict lockdowns.

Prime Minister Sovaleni says it's about managing expectations and coming up with a clear plan of what can be delivered.

“We are talking about two different communities – those who were affected by the tsunami and those affected by Covid-19 and some of them they intersect whereby some of those who relocated got Covid-19.

"So it’s that balancing act between the restrictions and trying to help the affected communities and I think that we need more coordination,” he says.

The Government has provided some assistance to the business community including helping to pay wages, providing some grants and loan facilities for those badly affected by lockdown.

Recovery from the tsunami is expected to take some time.

The Government is looking at building 286 new houses and repairing another two hundred - “a massive undertaking given our size”.

Sovaleni says his cabinet wants to ensure the replacement homes will “hopefully last longer investing in our resilience investing in our communities building better houses”.

The Prime Minister says he would like his people to have some sense of normality.

“The fact we have been through a lot says a lot about the resilience of the Tongan people and also the generosity of New Zealand and Australia …we are very thankful for the assistance but also for the people of Tonga they are obeying it must be very hard directions given the number of lockdowns that we went through up to now."

Sovaleni and his delegation are enroute to Palau to join sixty other countries for the Our Ocean Conference.