Tonga Volcanic Eruption Felt Like An "Atomic Bomb", Say Aid Workers

UN crisis coordinator Jonathan Veitch said the key concern now for Tongans is drinking water, with water supplies contaminated by ash or saltwater.

Tonga's volcanic eruption felt like an "atomic bomb" that shook "the whole island", an aid worker told AFP on Friday, as the Pacific nation raced to address a drinking water shortage.

Almost a week after the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano exploded, unleashing a tsunami and cutting Tonga off from the rest of the world, witnesses are recounting the disaster.

On Tongatapu, Tonga's main island, "we felt a big... it was like an atomic bomb," said Sione Taumoefolau, the secretary general for the Tonga Red Cross.

"The whole island shake because of the noise of the eruption."