Tonga

They show the Pacific islands blanketed in a layer of volcanic ash, while in coastal areas the waves have torn down trees and ripped buildings apart.

Saturday's tsunami left at least three dead - including a British national - and crippled communications.

International phone links are said to have been restored but a severed undersea cable may take weeks to fix.

That means Tonga remains largely cut off from the outside world, with little known about the scale of destruction.

Our domestic network in Tongatapu is active and we are working to restore international connectivity. Digicel’s engineers and the technical team are working on the issues and hope to have them resolved in the shortest time possible.

Some of the islands' communications and power have now been restored, but the internet may be out for a while longer because of damage to an undersea cable.

After the eruption, Tonga's main island was blanketed in ash and its western coastline is said to be devastated.

"We're getting sketchy information, but it looks like the cable has been cut," the Southern Cross Cable Network's networks director Dean Veverka told the AFP news agency.

Puna said like the rest of the Forum family, he is shocked by the volcanic eruptions in Tonga.

“Even from the relative safety of Suva, we could feel and hear the eruptions which rocked the Kingdom and large parts of the region to its core.”

Puna said he is anxious about the safety and welfare of the people of Tonga and pledge the resources of the Pacific Islands Forum to Tonga.

He will try and speak with the Prime Minister once communications have been restored.

A tsunami has hit Tonga’s largest island Tongatapu, as a result, Digicel customers in the Kingdom of Tonga have experienced disruption in their mobile service. Digicel’s domestic mobile towers are in operation across Tongatapu.

A tsunami wave struck Tongatapu after locals were urged to seek higher ground.

It came shortly after locals in Tongatapu reported “deafening” sound of an eruption this afternoon. They also reported stones pouring down in Tongatapu.

No injuries or deaths have been reported.

Kaniva News correspondent in Tonga Patimiosi Ngūngūtau shared a photo of sea waves flowing inland.

He described the deafening sound as “weird”.

“It was a rain of small black stones and black ashes”, he said.

He said they have evacuated to Liahona at the central south.

The tournament will determine which nation will represent Oceania in the FIFA intercontinental play-off in June 2022, from which the winner earns a spot at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ finals.  

A standalone match between the two lowest-ranked OFC nations, Tonga and the Cook Islands, will be held on March 13 to determine who qualifies through to join Group A and contest the preliminary competition. 

Group A, which will be made up of the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tahiti and the qualifying match winner, will have its first Match Day on March 17. 

New Zealand has a new one-way travel bubble with Pacific island countries such as Samoa, Vanuatu and Tonga.

Vaccinated RSE workers from these countries can come to New Zealand without self-isolating or taking Covid-19 tests on arrival, after the one-way quarantine-free travel took effect last week.

Up to 5,000 workers are needed across the horticulture and viticulture industries during peak summer season in December and January.

The usual supply of backpackers to New Zealand's recognised seasonal workers scheme remains cut off due to Covid-19 border restrictions.

In the last 18 months, around 12,000 workers have come into Australia from countries such as Vanuatu and Samoa.

But how many have stayed in the jobs, they were contracted to do?

ABC Rural has been told more than 1,000 of these workers have absconded, with many poached by labour hire companies that are not licensed to do so.

What's going wrong?

Speaking to RN, Richard Shannon from Growcom said across Australia, farmers were reporting seasonal workers suddenly leaving their jobs.

The RFU said Farrell would miss Saturday's training after returning a positive PCR test and would remain in isolation and would be lateral flow and PCR tested again on Saturday. All other player and staff PCR test results received were negative.

Farrell had been due to start at flyhalf but his likely absence means a probable start for Marcus Smith, who was named among the replacements after missing parts of training this week with a leg injury.