Country for PR: China
Contributor: PR Newswire Asia (China)
Monday, January 24 2022 - 22:05
AsiaNet
CGTN exclusive interview with Chinese businessman in Tonga
BEIJING, Jan. 24, 2022 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --

Chinese businessman Yu Hongtao is in Tonga. During his interview with CGTN, he 
said dust is everywhere on the island.

Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJjyJg1sKVM

"What I've seen so far is everyone is involved in emergency rescue and disaster 
relief operations," Yu said. "Almost everyone is wearing a mask. Volcanic ash 
is on the streets because the ashfall lasted several hours. The ground is 
covered in ash, including vegetation and people's houses." 

"Some volunteers have been cleaning up the roads, but not yet in the woods. 
People have just been clearing the roads," he said.

Regarding the living conditions, including water, electricity and food supplies 
in Tonga, Yu things have not returned to normal yet, but there has been 
improvement in some areas.

He said electricity was restored in many areas within a day after the eruption 
knocked out power. Also, after dawn, on the day of the eruption, everyone 
restocked on supplies.

"I personally stocked up on water and then food and more water," he said.

"We have enough supplies here. There isn't any bottled water at supermarkets 
now, but other supplies are still available."

Vegetables are not available at the moment. Yu said his friend who works in 
agriculture told him that people on the island won't have fresh vegetables for 
more than a month. As for fruits, he said, "There aren't much on the island, to 
begin with, only some watermelons. But even this has become scarce now."

"I don't think life has gotten back to normal," Yu told CGTN.

He said the deputy prime minister has declared a state of emergency, and 
Tongans are joining disaster relief efforts and cleaning up volcanic ash on the 
roads.

"If they're not cleaned up, they'll fly back into the air when vehicles drive 
past, and they'll land on rooftops," he said.

"Drinking water in Tonga comes directly from the rain. Every household has a 
rainwater harvester installed on their roofs, so we have to make sure that all 
the ash is cleaned up."

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-01-21/CGTN-exclusive-interview-with-Chinese-businessman-in-Tonga-16Z8jjeEew8/index.html


Translations

Japanese