Tonga needs over $90 million to start repairs from volcano

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A U.N. official says 80% of Tonga’s 105,000 people were affected by the undersea volcanic eruption and ensuring tsunami that lashed the Pacific island nation on Jan. 15. Sanaka Samarasinha is the U.N. resident coordinator for Tonga and he said Wednesday that the country needs over $90 million to repair damage and restore the farming and fishing that are its economic mainstays. Samarasinha says that “the anxiety hasn’t gone away with the receding waters of the tsunami.” He says cyclone season is still in full swing, and there are almost weekly earthquakes in the region, the latest a magnitude 5.0 quake a few hours before his comments.