NASA scientists estimate Tonga blast at 10 megatons

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https://www.npr.org/2022/01/18/1073800454/nasa-scientists-estimate-tonga-blast-at-10-megatons

~ quote found with Google

The Tongans are really having it rough now.

I hope they get relief soon----like fresh water, for example.

Is there such thing as a portable desalinator? So the seawater can be drunk?

Some people believe it was a nuclear bomb. So in that case the desalinator would have to also remove the radioactivity.
And the island is not in good shape, from the picture in the article. In fact, it's more like it's two shapes now.

I haven't read anything about it being caused by a nuclear bomb. I'll have to read further. I've read further----and nothing has been said about it being caused by a nuclear bomb.

My impression is that it was a volcanic eruption.

Where did you read that it might be a nuclear bomb? All that was said it that it had a 10-megaton impact, about 500 times the intensity of the Hiroshima atom bomb.

I probably misinterpreted what I read. My misunderstanding came from here : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29988646

The comments there generally give complementary informations, and sometimes dispel altogether the initial claims of the submitted article by the user.

I don't know why (the Man) they would target this region with a nuclear bomb, beside the possible will to destroy some underground thing.

'Ofa atu to the people of Tonga.
I hope we can all help with them getting back on their feet soon.

There's a NZ naval supply ship, the HMNZS Aotearoa, which is already en route to Tonga with a portable water desalination plant on board. Apparently it can produce 70,000 L of water a day, plus it's also carrying 250,000 L of water and other emergency supplies. It should arrive in Tonga by Friday (local time).

Other naval vessels are being sent from NZ and Australia as well, plus both countries are now able to send in supplies by air (now that most of the ash has been cleared from the airport in Nuku'alofa). It's a start at least, but the ongoing emergency relief effort is going to be a mammoth task.