Two people drown in Peru after Tonga volcano
Two people drowned off a beach in northern Peru, the local civil defense authority reported on Sunday (Sunday 16).
After unusually high waves were recorded in several coastal areas following Saturday's eruption of an underwater volcano in Tonga in the Pacific Ocean.
The Peruvian police said on Twitter that the two victims were found dead by officers. They are the first recorded deaths of the wide-reaching tsunami.
Meanwhile, Tonga remained largely uncontactable on Sunday with telephone and internet links severed.
The official death toll in Tonga and surrounding islands remains unknown.
Leaving relatives in faraway New Zealand praying for their families.
Here was Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern:
"I know many of you will have seen the footage and found it deeply concerning. Since then the New Zealand government has been urgently attempting to gather information about the situation on the ground in Tonga and the Pacific, as well as issuing local warnings relating to strong waves and surges on the New Zealand coastline."
In Japan, hundreds of thousands of people were advised to evacuate on Sunday as waves of more than a meter hit coastal areas, public broadcaster NHK reported.
The underwater volcano off Tonga erupted on Saturday, prompting tsunami warnings and evacuation orders and causing huge waves on several South Pacific islands.
