Tonga national emergency medical team response to the 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcanic eruption and tsunami: the first deployment of the Tonga Emergency Medical Assistance Team (TEMAT)

Problem

The undersea Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano erupted on 15 January 2022, causing a tsunami that affected Tonga as well as other countries around the Pacific rim. Tonga's international borders were closed at the time due to the coronavirus disease pandemic, but clinical surge support was needed to respond to this disaster.

Context

Tonga's Ministry of Health formed the Tonga Emergency Medical Assistance Team (TEMAT) in 2018 to provide clinical care and public health assistance during disasters, outbreaks and other health emergencies. TEMAT was activated for the first time in January 2022 to respond to medical and public health needs following the eruption and tsunami.

Action

On 16 January 2022, a five-person TEMAT advance team was deployed to conduct initial damage assessments and provide casualty care. Subsequently, TEMAT rotations were deployed to provide clinical care and public health support across the Ha'apai island group for over 2 months.

Outcome

TEMAT deployed to the islands most affected by the volcanic eruption and tsunami within 24 hours of the event, providing emergency clinical, psychosocial and public health services across four islands. TEMAT reported daily to the Ministry of Health and National Emergency Management Office, providing critical information for response decision-making. All TEMAT actions were documented, and an after-action review was conducted following the deployment.

Discussion

TEMAT's deployment in response to the 2022 volcanic eruption and tsunami highlighted the importance of national emergency medical teams that are prepared to respond to a range of emergency events.

Strengthening Adaptation Planning and Action to Climate-Related Health Impacts in Pacific Islands Countries: Tonga

A natural hazard and climate change vulnerability and adaptation tool was applied in Tonga to identify health and health system-related climate and natural hazards, and to create and prioritize adaptation strategies and opportunities. During a 2-day multi-sectoral workshop, expert stakeholders prioritized the most extreme health-related and health system risks and devised a series of adaptation strategies. A series of health and health system impacts were identified and related to: cyclones/severe storms, increased average and extreme temperatures, flooding (including landslides), drought, wildfire, tsunami, earthquakes and volcanic activity. The main adaptation strategies identified improving drinking water security; development of Government procedures for drought management; linking health and climate data; increasing food security; improvements in urban design; training health workers; increasing evacuation center resilience in villages; increased research into management responses and enforcing and updating the building code. Adaptation to the health and health system impacts explored during the workshop include many outside the scope of the health system. This paper highlights the importance of multi-stakeholder engagement and co-planning to anticipate and plan for natural hazard and climate-related health and health system impacts and; benefits of establishing and using expert knowledge to determine health adaptation connections, build bridges across sectors and prioritize strategies in the absence of climate and health attributable information.