Friday, January 21, 2022

Fisherman recalls racing tsunami, raining rocks after Tongan volcano erupted

Smoke and ash billowing from the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano on Jan 14, 2022. PHOTO: REUTERS/TONGA GEOLOGICAL SERVICES

SYDNEY (REUTERS) - Mr Branko Sugar and his son were spearfishing on an outer reef in Tonga last Saturday (Jan 15).

The air smelt of sulphur, as it had done for weeks, from the nearby active volcano, but he noticed the ash cloud from the crater was much higher.

As the 61-year-old stowed away his spearfishing gear, the first of four loud volcanic explosions rocked the tranquil South Pacific, sending a giant wave towards his boat.


"We stopped the boat and just looked. Then we saw the wave coming towards us. The biggest wave I've ever seen," Mr Sugar told Reuters via telephone from Tonga on Friday where communications are still only being restored.

Mr Sugar turned his boat, a 400-horsepower 27-foot (8m) World Cat catamaran, and accelerated towards deep water near Eueiki Island.

"That's what saved us, the power of the boat," he said. "I shouldn't be alive."

As he raced for safety, Mr Sugar telephoned his home on Tonga's main island Tongatapu to warn of the approaching tsunami, but nobody answered.

"The wave came past us and hit the main island, and then we knew we'd managed to get away. But then the rocks started raining. It was raining stones," he recalled.

In minutes, the Pacific blue sky turned to total darkness, ash enveloped everything and a storm seemed to whip up, lashing the boat with wind and waves.

A 12-mile (19km) trip home took three hours in the darkness before they reached the harbour.

"There were wrecked boats everywhere. Upside-down boats, sunken boats. We didn't know where to go," Mr Sugar said.

"And when we finally stopped, then we couldn't find our cars - they'd all been swept away. It was one thing after another. When we finally found them, I couldn't drive, I was blind from rocks pounding my eyes for hours driving the boat."

The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano eruption triggered tsunami that destroyed villages, resorts and many buildings and knocked out communications for the nation of about 105,000 people. It also sent shockwaves and tsunami across the Pacific.

Three people have been reported killed, say Tongan authorities.

Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Centre has said the force of the eruption was estimated to be the equivalent of five to 10 megatons of TNT, or more than 500 times that of the nuclear bomb the United States dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima at the end of World War II.

The volcanic explosion in Tonga destroyed an island—and created many mysteries

Maya Wei-Haas

For many years, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano poked above the waves as a pair of narrow rocky isles, one named Hunga Tong and the other Hunga Ha'apai. An eruption in 2014 built up a third island that later connected the trio into one landmass. And when the volcano awoke in December, the uninhabited island at the peak's tip slowly grew as bits of volcanic rock and ash built up new land.

 
© Provided by National Geographic

Then came the catastrophic eruption on January 15. As seen in satellite images, only two tiny outcrops of rock now betray the beast lurking beneath the waves. But whether it happens in weeks or years, the volcano will rise again.

This cycle of destruction and rebirth is the lifeblood of volcanoes like Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai, which is just one of many that dot the Kingdom of Tonga. Still, the tremendous energy of this latest explosion, which NASA estimated to be equivalent to five to six million tons of TNT, is unlike any seen in recent decades. The eruption sent a tsunami racing across the Pacific Ocean. It unleashed a sonic boom that zipped around the world twice. It sent a plume of ash and gas shooting into the stratosphere some 19 miles high, with some parts reaching as far as 34 miles up. And perhaps most remarkable, all these effects came from only an hour or so of volcanic fury.
© Provided by National Geographic

"Everything so far about this eruption is off-the-scale weird," says Janine Krippner, a volcanologist with Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Program.

© Photograph by New Zealand Defense Force via Getty Images A blanket of ash has dulled the usually vibrant plantlife across the string of tropical islands, as shown in this January 17 image of Nomuka, where the tsunami caused extensive damage.

Scientists are now racing to work out the cause behind this week’s intense outburst and the surprisingly widespread tsunamis that followed. Some clues to what set the stage for such a powerful explosion may come from the chemistry of rocks that cooled from lava in past eruptions. In a new study published in the journal Lithos, scientists found key differences between the erupted material of small and large blasts—and now they are curious what the chemistry of this latest event might reveal.

Understanding the spark that ignited Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai’s recent explosive event could help reduce future risks. For now, however, the biggest concern is for the people of Tonga, and whether there could be more volcanic outbursts on the horizon. Almost all of the volcano is now beneath the ocean surface, hidden from satellite view, and there's no equipment on the ground to help track subterranean shifts of molten rock

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© Photograph by Japan Meteorology Agency via AP Multiple satellites captured the volcano’s tremendous blast as a billowing plume of ash and gas shot into the stratosphere. The eruption is shown here in an image taken by Himawari-8, a Japanese weather satellite.

"If we can't detect what is happening in the magma system, we have no idea what might happen next," Krippner says.

An underwater giant


While Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai has erupted many times in the past, scientists only recently realized how large these eruptions could be. Mostly submerged underwater, the volcano is not easy to study.

"No one had actually done any work on the rocks," says Simon Barker, a volcanologist at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand and an author of the new Lithos study documenting the volcano's history.

Barker and his colleagues chartered a boat in 2015 to camp for several nights on the volcanic island’s rubbly landscape. As they surveyed the region and collected samples of rock, the team spotted small cones from recent eruptions dotting the seafloor around the primary peak. They also discovered thick layers of fragmented lava rocks and ash, known as pyroclastic flows, from two monstrous eruptions that they later dated to around 900 and 1,800 years old.

"We saw there was a lot more complexity to the history of the volcano," Barker says.

The chemistry of erupted material might help untangle what made this eruption so powerful, explains Marco Brenna, a volcanologist at the University of Otago in New Zealand and an author of the new Lithos study.

As a magma system cools, crystals of different minerals form at different times, which changes the chemistry of the dwindling molten rock. The crystals preserve these changes as they grow, a little like tree rings.

Brenna and his colleagues analyzed the rings of crystals in the rocks that erupted during the two large blasts 900 and 1,800 years ago. Their work suggests that before the volcano unleashed these eruptions, fresh magma was rapidly injected into the chamber—a commonly proposed trigger for many volcanic eruptions. But the rocks from more moderate explosions in 2008 and 2015 lacked these rings, pointing to a constant but slow influx of magma, Brenna says.

Scientists are now hoping to study the chemistry of the freshly erupted rock to see what it can tell us about this latest event. "It'll be interesting to see what the crystals are recording," Brenna says.

While these subterranean processes may be driving part of the explosivity, water also likely had a hand in this weekend's blasts, says Geoff Kilgour, a volcanologist with New Zealand's GNS Science who was not part of the study team. Water can supercharge the power of a volcanic explosion, but it remains unclear exactly how it would have sparked the astounding boom from Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai.

Perhaps, Kilgour suggests, the recent explosion had just the right mix of magma and water; an excess of either one would have generated a more moderate blast. "It may be that we've gotten to this Goldilocks zone," he says.
Airblast tsunami?

This latest eruption is layering on even more intrigue because its mighty boom, while energetic, ejected surprisingly little material. Ash from the volcano's past large eruptions can be found on the nearby island of Tongatapu, and that layer is 10 times thicker than the new layer deposited there by the recent event, Barker says.

Some scientists now speculate that the enormous, short-lived burst of energy may have helped stir up the unusually large tsunami waves that followed the eruption.

Tsunamis usually radiate from a sudden underwater shift, like a submarine landslide down a volcano's flanks or rapid movement of the land in an earthquake. Yet after Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai erupted, waves appeared in some places, such as the Caribbean, far earlier than would be expected of a classic tsunami.

The later tsunami waves that crashed on distant shores were also strange. The farther from the trigger a tsunami travels, the more its waves should diminish. While the waves that hit the islands in the Kingdom of Tonga were damaging, they weren't high enough to account for the surprisingly large waves across the ocean.

"It basically had a very low decay of tsunami size all around the Pacific, which is really, really unusual," Kilgour says. The shockwave that traveled through the air could have coupled with the sea surface, driving the expansive tsunamis. Just such a process was proposed for the 1883 explosion of Krakatoa, one of the most powerful and deadly volcanic eruptions in recorded history.

Modeling the spread and timing of the waves along with mapping changes to the volcano could help explain what drove the large tsunami. Still, Krippner says, the confusing mix of events "is going to change the way we look at this style of eruption—and that doesn't happen that often."
Trying to monitor a hidden giant

The recent event and all its oddities highlight how little is known about submarine volcanoes, says Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, a seismologist with Western Washington University. Many of these submerged giants linger in the deep ocean, and their blasts usually aren't deadly. Yet this weekend's explosion is a stark reminder of the risks of volcanoes lingering just beneath the waves.

For now, Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai seems to have fallen silent. The locals are helping each other pick through the damage and clean up the streets. While communications remain largely severed, information about the current situation is finally starting to trickle out. Three deaths have been confirmed among Tonga's residents, with two additional deaths in Peru from the tsunami.

Damage on some of the islands is severe. The homes of all 36 residents of Mango Island have been destroyed. Just two houses still stand on Fonoifua Island, and extensive damage stretches across Nomuka Island, which has a population of 239. Damage to the largest and most populous island, Tongatapu, where about 75,000 people live, was mostly focused on the western side. The Tonga Red Cross estimates a total of 1,200 "affected households."

Ash has contaminated the islands' stores of drinking water and delayed planes from landing with additional supplies. The New Zealand navy has deployed two supply ships that are scheduled to arrive on January 21.

And there's still a risk that the volcano could have more explosive blasts in store. The Tonga Geological Services relies on visual and satellite observations to track the activity of the many volcanoes across the region. But with Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai’s volcanic tip now beneath the surface, scientists have lost sight of any signs that might help understand the volcano's activity. The potential for additional activity also prevents scientists from flying nearby for a closer look.

Even when the volcano isn't actively erupting, monitoring largely submarine volcanoes is a complex task. GPS—which is frequently used to track shifts in the surface as magma moves underground—doesn't work on the seafloor. And obtaining real-time data from seismometers on the ocean floor is technologically difficult and expensive. Caplan-Auerbach says she often likens working in the oceans to doing seismology on another planet.

Instruments known as hydrophones can listen to the grumbles of submarine volcanoes as the sound travels across vast tracts of the ocean. But these are not easy to deploy in emergency situations and require connection to underwater cables for real-time data.

The situation in Tonga highlights the need for better international efforts to fund volcano monitoring around the world, Krippner says. She and other volcanologists have all stressed how well the Tonga Geological Services is handling a near-impossible task. "They don't have a huge amount of money. They don't have a huge amount of staff," Kilgour says. "But they're asked to do a huge amount."

In the days leading up to the January 15 blast, based on visual and satellite information alone, the agency persistently warned of future eruptions and a potential tsunami, instructing locals to stay away from the beaches. "Because of that, I think they saved probably thousands of lives," Barker says.

"We often learn from these really dreadful times," Caplan-Aurbach adds. Perhaps by closely studying the aftermath of this volcanic explosion, "we'll have a better sense for what's coming."


Cut off by volcano, Tongans relieved as contact restored

BANGKOK (AP) — As the massive undersea Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted on Saturday, Tongans from around the world gazed on as their relatives livestreamed images of billowing clouds of ash, gas and steam emerging from beneath the depths
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© Provided by The Canadian Press

Then darkness.

The eruption severed Tonga's single fiber-optic cable, rendering the entire Pacific archipelago offline and unable to communicate with the rest of the world — and leaving their loved ones terrified about what might have happened.

“It was absolutely crazy,” said Koniseti Liutai, a Tongan who lives in Australia.

“We were talking with family and relatives, because they were excitedly showing us the volcano's activities, then we heard the explosion and the big bang and everything went dark,” he said. “Then the next information we got was the tsunami warning and then the tsunami hitting; we were all absolutely fearing the worst.”

It wasn't only family and friends who could not get through. Huge ash clouds made backup communication by satellite phone next to impossible, and world leaders were not even able to get in touch with their Tongan counterparts to see what help they needed.

As the ash cleared, satellite communication improved and Tonga's telecoms operator, Digicel, said it had been able to restore international call services to some areas late Wednesday.

It cautioned, however, that due to the high number of calls and the limited capacity of its satellite link that people may need to try repeatedly to get through — something experienced by Liutai, who is deputy president of the Tonga Australia Chamber of Commerce.

“My first direct information was this morning,” he said Thursday. “My daughter, after 100 phone calls during the day and night, got through to my aunties, my mum's sisters, and we were in tears of joy — it was three in the morning, but for us it was like the middle of the day; we were so pumped and so happy.”

So far, three people have been confirmed killed after the volcanic eruption 64 kilometers (40 miles) north of Tonga’s capital, Nuku’alofa, and the tsunami that followed. Several small settlements in outlying islands were wiped off the face of the map, according to the Red Cross and official reports, necessitating the evacuation of several hundred residents.

With the resumption of some communications, more photos have begun to emerge of the destruction, showing the once-verdant islands turned a charcoal black by a thick coating of volcanic dust.

Coastlines are strewn with debris, while people work to clean streets and walkways.

The 2-centimeter (0.78 inch) layer of ash that rendered the runway at Fua’amotu International Airport unusable has now been cleared, and the first flights carrying fresh water and other aid arrived Thursday.

A repair ship is being sent from Papua New Guinea to work on the undersea cable, but it will take some time to get to Tonga and the company in charge estimates it could take longer than a month to repair the line.

Given that the cable runs right through the volcanic zone, any new volcanic activity could completely scupper even that timeline.

For Liutai, who runs a business in Tonga, regular visits had allowed him to stay in close touch in the past, but with COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions, he has come to rely on video calls like many other Tongans living abroad.

With that possibility now cut off, at least for the near future, he's hoping at least better telephone connections will soon be available so that the 106,000 residents of Tonga can better reach the outside world to tell their friends and family what's going on.

“It's something we've become so used to, talking to each other and sharing information with the ease of social media,” the 52-year-old said. “But when something scary has happened and you fear the worst, and even the government statement was general with no information, we were all nervous wrecks.”

David Rising, The Associated Press

First aid flights arrive in Tonga after big volcano eruption

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The first flights carrying fresh water and other aid to Tonga finally arrived Thursday after the Pacific nation’s main airport runway was cleared of ash left by a huge volcanic eruption.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

New Zealand and Australia each sent military transport planes that were carrying water containers, kits for temporary shelters, generators, hygiene supplies and communications equipment. The Australian plane also had a special sweeper to help keep the runway clear.

The deliveries were dropped off without the military personnel coming in contact with people at the airport in Tonga. That’s because Tonga is desperate to make sure foreigners don’t bring in the coronavirus. It has not had any outbreaks of COVID-19 and has reported just a single case since the pandemic began.

Rear Adm. James Gilmour, the commander of New Zealand's Joint Forces, said there had been a “mammoth effort” by Tongan troops “to clear that runway by hand. And they’ve achieved that this afternoon.”

Australia said the assistance would help Tonga's government meet the community's needs and support the immediate cleanup efforts.

Japan also said it is sending emergency relief, including drinking water and equipment for cleaning away volcanic ash. Two C-130 Hercules aircraft left Thursday evening, and a transport vessel carrying two CH-47 Chinook helicopters will depart as soon as it is ready, the Defense Ministry said.

Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi told reporters that his ministry “will do everything we can for the disaster-hit people of Tonga.”

U.N. humanitarian officials report that about 84,000 people — more than 80% of Tonga’s population — have been impacted by the volcano’s eruption, U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said, pointing to three deaths, injuries, loss of homes and polluted water.

Communications with Tonga remain limited after Saturday's eruption and tsunami appeared to have broken the single fiber-optic cable that connects Tonga with the rest of the world. That means most people haven’t been able to use the internet or make phone calls abroad, although some local phone networks are still working.

One phone company, Digicel, said Thursday it had managed to restore the ability to make international calls from some places by using a satellite link, but that people would need to be patient due to high demand. It said it hoped to enhance its service over the coming days.

A navy patrol ship from New Zealand is also expected to arrive later Thursday. It is carrying hydrographic equipment and divers, and also has a helicopter to assist with delivering supplies.

Officials said the ship's first task would be to check shipping channels and the structural integrity of the wharf in the capital, Nuku'alofa, following the eruption and tsunami.

Another New Zealand navy ship carrying 250,000 liters (66,000 gallons) of water is on its way. The ship can also produce tens of thousands of liters of fresh water each day using a desalination plant.

Three of Tonga’s smaller islands suffered serious damage from tsunami waves, officials and the Red Cross said.

The U.N.’s Dujarric said “all houses have apparently been destroyed on the island of Mango and only two houses remain on Fonoifua island, with extensive damage reported on Nomuka.” He said evacuations are underway for people from the islands.

According to Tongan census figures, Mango is home to 36 people, Fonoifua is home to 69 people, and Nomuka to 239. The majority of Tongans live on the main island of Tongatapu, where about 50 homes were destroyed.

Dujarric said the most pressing humanitarian needs are safe water, food and non-food items, and top priorities are reestablishing communication services including for international calls and the internet.

Tonga has so far avoided the widespread devastation that many initially feared.

___

Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

Nick Perry, The Associated Press


Tonga in need of 'sustained support' after devastating volcanic eruption


Tongans said they were determined to rebuild their battered homeland in the wake of last week's devastating eruption and tsunami as a massive clean up continued Saturday in the Pacific kingdom

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© Marian Kupu/Broadcom Broadcasting FM87.5 via REUTERS

The powerful eruption of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano last Saturday triggered a tsunami that crashed across the Tongan archipelago, affecting more than 80 percent of the population, according to the United Nations.

Tongan journalist Marian Kupu said most locals are adamant on remaining as the huge recovery efforts began.

"We want to stay here in our country because this is what identifies us as Tongans. We want to rebuild our country and unite and move on," Kupu told AFP.

Toxic ash polluted drinking water supplies, crops were destroyed and at least two villages have been completely wiped out.

An estimated one cubic kilometre of material blasted from the volcano, and experts expect Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai to remain active "for weeks to months".

"Tonga's people are going to need sustained support responding to a disaster of this scale," Sione Hufanga, the United Nations Coordination Specialist in Tonga said.

"The people of Tonga are still overwhelmed with the magnitude of the disaster."

Tonga ranks third on the World Risk Report, which measures countries on their susceptibility to experiencing natural disasters.

But, despite the risk, Kupu said most Tongans wanted to stay.

"It's this feeling of pride that we have here, that we don't want to leave the country we were born and raised in," she said.

One survivor from the island of Atata, which was flattened by the tsunami, told her he would return to the island even after the devastation, she added.

"He explained he wished to go back because his parents are buried there, he was born there and his life is there.

"He wished the government or anybody would help rebuild his little island so he could go back."

'Unprecedented disaster'

The New Zealand and Australian defence forces have started delivering urgent relief supplies, particularly water, to Tonga but an Australian minister said fears of unleashing a "Covid crisis" were complicating aid efforts.

Tonga is Covid-free and has strict border control policies, requiring contactless delivery of aid, and a three week quarantine period for any aid personnel who wish to enter the country.

"It's a very, very difficult time for the people of Tonga," Australia's international development minister Zed Seselja said, but added: "We respect absolutely the desire of the Tongan government not to add a Covid crisis to a humanitarian crisis caused by a tsunami."

Meanwhile a third New Zealand navy vessel carrying helicopters, water, tarpaulins, milk powder and engineering equipment is on its way to Tonga and is expected to arrive early next week.

Defence Minister Peeni Henare said all deliveries will be contactless in accordance with Tonga's Covid-19 protocols.

The Tongan government has called the dual eruption-tsunami "an unprecedented disaster" and declared a nearly one-month national emergency.

The eruption broke a vital undersea communications cable linking Tonga with the rest of the world, and it is expected to be at least a month before all communication services are fully restored.

In the meantime partial communications has been established, although mobile network provider Digicel said the high number of calls to the island was producing delays.

(AFP)

'Proud' Tongans determined to rebuild battered homeland after eruption



Fri, January 21, 2022

Tongans said they were determined to rebuild their battered homeland in the wake of last week's devastating eruption and tsunami as a massive clean up continued Saturday in the Pacific kingdom.

The powerful eruption of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano last Saturday triggered a tsunami that crashed across the Tongan archipelago, affecting more than 80 percent of the population, according to the United Nations.

Tongan journalist Marian Kupu said most locals are adamant on remaining as the huge recovery efforts began.

"We want to stay here in our country because this is what identifies us as Tongans. We want to rebuild our country and unite and move on," Kupu told AFP.

Toxic ash polluted drinking water supplies, crops were destroyed and at least two villages have been completely wiped out.

An estimated one cubic kilometre of material blasted from the volcano, and experts expect Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai to remain active "for weeks to months".

"Tonga's people are going to need sustained support responding to a disaster of this scale," Sione Hufanga, the United Nations Coordination Specialist in Tonga said.

"The people of Tonga are still overwhelmed with the magnitude of the disaster."

Tonga ranks third on the World Risk Report, which measures countries on their susceptibility to experiencing natural disasters.

But, despite the risk, Kupu said most Tongans wanted to stay.

"It's this feeling of pride that we have here, that we don't want to leave the country we were born and raised in," she said.

One survivor from the island of Atata, which was flattened by the tsunami, told her he would return to the island even after the devastation, she added.

"He explained he wished to go back because his parents are buried there, he was born there and his life is there.

"He wished the government or anybody would help rebuild his little island so he could go back."

- 'Unprecedented disaster' -

The New Zealand and Australian defence forces have started delivering urgent relief supplies, particularly water, to Tonga but an Australian minister said fears of unleashing a "Covid crisis" were complicating aid efforts.

Tonga is Covid-free and has strict border control policies, requiring contactless delivery of aid, and a three week quarantine period for any aid personnel who wish to enter the country.

"It's a very, very difficult time for the people of Tonga," Australia's international development minister Zed Seselja said, but added: "We respect absolutely the desire of the Tongan government not to add a Covid crisis to a humanitarian crisis caused by a tsunami."

Meanwhile a third New Zealand navy vessel carrying helicopters, water, tarpaulins, milk powder and engineering equipment is on its way to Tonga and is expected to arrive early next week.

Defence Minister Peeni Henare said all deliveries will be contactless in accordance with Tonga's Covid-19 protocols.

The Tongan government has called the dual eruption-tsunami "an unprecedented disaster" and declared a nearly one-month national emergency.

The eruption broke a vital undersea communications cable linking Tonga with the rest of the world, and it is expected to be at least a month before all communication services are fully restored.

In the meantime partial communications has been established, although mobile network provider Digicel said the high number of calls to the island was producing delays.

cf/al/oho

Tonga's Olympic Flagbearer Raising Funds to Help Islands After Volcano Eruption, Tsunami

The tsunami wiped off several small settlements in outlying islands off the face of the map


Published January 20, 2022
AP Photo/Getty Images
Left: Photo of damage caused by a tsunami that struck Tonga. Right: Pita Taufatofua.


Pita Taufatofua, known as the "Shirtless Tongan" carrying Tonga's flag at the Olympics, has established a GoFundMe page to help rebuild areas devastated by a tsunami following a volcanic eruption.

Taufatofua said that though the funds will be used to work on long-term projects to rebuild, they're also using funds to address immediate needs such as food and fuel.

As of Thursday evening, the "Tonga Tsunami relief by Pita Taufatofua" verified GoFundMe page has raised over $580,000 Australian dollars (over $400,000 U.S. dollars).

At least three people have been confirmed killed after the volcanic eruption 40 miles north of Tonga’s capital, Nuku’alofa, and the tsunami that followed. Several small settlements in outlying islands were wiped off the face of the map, according to the Red Cross and official reports, necessitating the evacuation of several hundred residents.


TONGAJAN 18
Despite Huge Volcano Blast, Tonga Avoids Widespread Disaster

TSUNAMIJAN 15
Pacific Tsunami Threat Recedes, Volcano Ash Hinders Response

"In preparation and through the recovery efforts we are seeking your donations to help our island Kingdom," Taufatofua wrote on the page, adding that though he is training in Australia, he was mobilizing "all the assistance I can to send to our beloved Tonga."

As the massive undersea Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted on Saturday, Tongans from around the world gazed on as their relatives live streamed images of billowing clouds of ash, gas and steam emerging from beneath the depths.

Then darkness.

The eruption severed Tonga's single fiber-optic cable, rendering the entire Pacific archipelago offline and unable to communicate with the rest of the world — and leaving their loved ones terrified about what might have happened.

“It was absolutely crazy,” said Koniseti Liutai, a Tongan who lives in Australia.

“We were talking with family and relatives, because they were excitedly showing us the volcano's activities, then we heard the explosion and the big bang and everything went dark,” he said. “Then the next information we got was the tsunami warning and then the tsunami hitting; we were all absolutely fearing the worst.”

It wasn't only family and friends who could not get through. Huge ash clouds made backup communication by satellite phone next to impossible, and world leaders were not even able to get in touch with their Tongan counterparts to see what help they needed.

As the ash cleared, satellite communication improved and Tonga's telecoms operator, Digicel, said it had been able to restore international call services to some areas late Wednesday.

With the resumption of some communications, more photos have begun to emerge of the destruction, showing the once-verdant islands turned a charcoal black by a thick coating of volcanic dust.

Coastlines are strewn with debris, while people work to clean streets and walkways.

The 2-centimeter (0.78 inch) layer of ash that rendered the runway at Fua’amotu International Airport unusable has now been cleared, and the first flights carrying fresh water and other aid arrived Thursday.

A repair ship is being sent from Papua New Guinea to work on the undersea cable, but it will take some time to get to Tonga and the company in charge estimates it could take longer than a month to repair the line.

Given that the cable runs right through the volcanic zone, any new volcanic activity could completely scupper even that timeline.
AP/NBC

REST IN POWER
Buddhist monk who brought mindfulness to West dies in Vietnam


This photo taken on November 15, 2018 shows then-92-year-old Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh (C) in a wheelchair at the Tu Hieu pagoda in Hue (AFP/Manan VATSYAYANA)

Fri, January 21, 2022, 7:29 PM·4 min read

Vietnamese monk-turned-peace-activist Thich Nhat Hanh, a hugely influential Buddhist credited with bringing mindfulness to the West, has died aged 95.

The Zen master, whose reach within Buddhism is seen as second only to the Dalai Lama, spent nearly four decades in exile after being banished from his homeland for calling for an end to the Vietnam-American War.

Thich Nhat Hanh "passed away peacefully" at the Tu Hieu Temple in the city of Hue, Vietnam's Buddhist heartland, his Zen teaching organisation, the Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism, said.

"We invite our beloved global spiritual family to take a few moments to be still, to come back to our mindful breathing, as we together hold Thay in our hearts," the organisation said on Nhat Hanh's Twitter account, using the Vietnamese word for teacher.

Before his return to Vietnam in 2018, he set up retreats around the world and wrote over 100 books including on mindfulness and meditation -- a cornerstone of a $4.2 trillion global wellness industry espoused by Oprah Winfrey, Arianna Huffington and tech billionaire Marc Benioff.

- Religious freedom, peace -

Born in 1926, Thich Nhat Hanh was ordained aged 16 and went on to found a youth school which trained volunteers to build clinics and infrastructure in villages blighted by war.

In the early 1960s he travelled to the United States, where he taught at Columbia and Princeton universities, but after one trip in 1966 to meet US civil rights icon Martin Luther King -- who joined his calls to end the Vietnam-American War -- he was barred from returning home.

Believing that war was fundamentally wrong, the monk refused to take sides in the conflict and was consequently persecuted by the governments of both North and South Vietnam.

Thich Nhat Hanh spent the next 39 years in France, but continued to advocate for religious freedom around the world.

In 1967, King nominated Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize, telling the committee in a letter: "this gentle Buddhist monk from Vietnam is a scholar of immense intellectual capacity".

"His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity."

He also continued to help his fellow Vietnamese.

As the war came to an end, many fled the country by boat, facing perilous conditions on the ocean as they attempted to reach sanctuary overseas.

Thich Nhat Hanh was able to save more than 800 people after he hired two large boats.

Such action was part of his belief in "engaged Buddhism", a term which he coined, according to John Powers, a professor of religious studies at Australia's Deakin University.

"One of the problems historically with Buddhism is that Buddhists have been really good about talking about compassion... but (they) have not been that great at putting it into practice," Powers said.

But Thich Nhat Nanh believed "it's not enough to sit on a cushion and meditate... and that's become a real cornerstone of a lot of modern Buddhism".

- Under close watch -

He was permitted by authorities to see out his final days at the Tu Hieu temple, but was closely monitored by plainclothes police who kept vigil outside his gated compound.

Since his return to Vietnam, hundreds flocked to his pagoda to join the monk on his outings around the temple's lush gardens.

Most of his followers are devoted to his spiritual messages, not his politics.

"He taught us to love people, to love ourselves, to love nature," said Tran Thi My Thanh, who made the pilgrimage to Hue with friends from Ho Chi Minh City.

His messages have not always been welcomed as authorities in Buddhist majority one-party Vietnam are wary of organised religion: in 2009 his followers were driven from their temple in southern Lam Dong province by hired mobs.

But Thich Nhat Hanh's disciples say they come in peace.

"We know that Vietnam has difficulty, and we know the world also tries to help Vietnam open up, to have more freedom, more democracy... we try to help also, but we do it in a Buddhist way," said Thich Chan Phap An, one of Thich Nhat Hanh's closest disciples.

"It's not wise to have confrontation, but it's very good to have communication," he told AFP in 2018.

caw/mdl/aph/lpm/oho
POST MODERN ARISTOCRACY
The princess and the Caravaggio: bitter dispute rages over Roman villa

Princess Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi is facing the prospect of having to move out of the sprawling Villa Aurora. Photograph: Victor Sokolowicz/The Guardian

‘It’s like a museum,’ says princess caught in inheritance feud over one of the world’s most expensive homes


Angela Giuffrida in Rome
Fri 14 Jan 2022 12.31 GMT

As legend goes, tossing a coin into the Trevi fountain guarantees a return visit to Rome. When, as a 16-year-old American tourist, Rita Carpenter participated in the ritual and made a wish to one day marry a Roman and live in the Italian capital, little did she know that almost five decades on she would return to marry a prince and her home would be a 16th-century villa stuffed with history, including the only ceiling mural ever painted by Caravaggio.

But now Princess Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi is facing the prospect of having to move out of the sprawling Villa Aurora, and the vast treasures it contains are at risk of being closed off to the public.

On 18 January the property goes under the hammer, amid a bitter inheritance feud with the sons of her late husband, Prince Nicolò Boncompagni Ludovisi. Hidden by high walls close to Via Veneto in central Rome, the villa is being sold with an opening bid of €471m (£393m), which would make it one of the world’s most expensive homes.

“We couldn’t reach an agreement so the judge ruled it had to be auctioned,” said the 72-year-old. “I really haven’t slept much at all.”

The Guercino fresco at Villa Aurora. Photograph: Victor Sokolowicz

The princess is sceptical a petition launched this week urging the Italian government to stump up the cash to buy the property will be successful. Since the site is protected by the ministry of culture, once a bid has been agreed at auction the state will have the chance to buy the property at the same price. “I’d like the state to buy it but I don’t know if it’s a possibility as I don’t know if they have the money, that’s the problem. And I’m not the only heir.”

The lion’s share of the asking price is attributed to Caravaggio’s Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto mural, which the artist painted in 1597 on the ceiling of a small room tucked away on the villa’s first floor. The 2.75-metre-wide mural was commissioned by the villa’s first owner, Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte, to adorn the ceiling of his alchemy laboratory.

But the Caravaggio is not the only slice of history that Villa Aurora’s new owner will acquire. The property lies on the site of what was once the home of Julius Caesar. Monuments in the front garden include a sculpture by Michelangelo. The building also contains ceilings frescoed by the baroque painter Guercino, who was commissioned by the Ludovisis, a noble family with close ties to the papacy who bought the property from Del Monte in 1621. The spiral staircase leading up to the Caravaggio and the three floors above was designed by the baroque architect Carlo Maderno, who also designed the facade of St Peter’s Basilica.

Caravaggio’s Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto fresco. Photograph: Victor Sokolowicz

The 40 or so rooms are packed with relics, including a door that belonged to an ancient Venetian warship, a telescope gifted to the Ludovosi family by Galileo Galilei and a leather box inscribed with a message from the chief of the British Red Cross thanking the Ludovisi family for allowing Red Cross members to reside in the villa for two years after the second world war. Villa Aurora has hosted everyone from Tchaikovsky and Henry James, who penned some of his 1909 classic, Italian Hours, in the villa’s garden, to Bette Midler and Madonna.

“This really is a museum,” said Princess Rita.

Villa Aurora was off the radar to the public until 2010, when it opened following a restoration project inspired by the princess after she saw it for the first time in 2003, the year she met Prince Nicolò.

A view of Villa Aurora. Photograph: Victor Sokolowicz

“It was abandoned, there were birds flying through it and I told Nicolò: ‘We have to open the villa, it has to be seen by Italians and other people, they need to understand the beauty and culture of it all,’” she said.

Until the prince’s death in 2018, the villa hosted students of history and small private tour groups. The couple were also behind various charity initiatives. The princess put together a digital archive of 150,000 documents that shed even more light on the history of the villa.

The princess had an intriguing life before she met Nicolò. Described by the Washington Post in 1978 as one of the four most dynamic young women in the city, she was married to the US congressman John Jenrette until their divorce in 1981 after his bribery conviction during the FBI’s Abscam investigation. She acted in several films and miniseries, studied at Harvard Business School, wrote three books and twice posed for Playboy magazine.

She was a property broker in New York when she crossed paths with Nicolò. “He’d read an article about me in Crain’s Business, and then a mutual friend got in touch and said: ‘You must come to Rome, there’s this prince who wants to put a hotel on one of his properties outside the city.’” She was initially dismissive, but eventually flew to Rome and the pair instantly fell in love. A psychic had previously told her she would marry a European and live in Europe. “I’d kind of forgotten about it, but then there he was. He was a brilliant man in every way, and the least important part about him was being a prince.”


The Fama room of Villa Aurora. Photograph: Victor Sokolowicz

In his will, Nicolò gave his wife the right to stay in the property for the rest of her life and, if sold, the proceeds were to be split between her and his sons. However, the sons disputed her right to stay in the villa, immediately prompting a toxic legal wrangle. She said she fears they will also try to prevent her getting her share of the sale’s proceeds.

“They want the house to themselves, forgetting how kind I’ve been to them or that their father said I made him the happiest he had been in his life. I don’t know what I’ll do afterwards, but I’ve done all I can, I can’t fight any more.”
Covid-19 vaccines showed high efficacy against severe Omicron: US data


Between October to November 2021, unvaccinated people were around 50 times more likely to die from Covid than people who were vaccinated and boosted (AFP/Frederic J. BROWN)

Fri, January 21, 2022

Covid-19 vaccines and boosters continued to have very high efficacy against severe outcomes during the Omicron wave of the virus, a large real-world study from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed Friday.

The paper evaluated data from more than 300,000 visits to emergency departments, urgent care clinics, and hospitalizations across 10 states from August 26, 2021 to January 5, 2022.

During the period when the Delta variant was dominant, vaccine efficacy against Covid-19 hospitalization was 90 percent between 14-179 days after dose two of a vaccine, fell to 81 percent more than 180 days after the second dose, and rose to 94 percent 14 days or more after dose three.

After Omicron became dominant, the vaccine efficacy estimate against hospitalization between 14-179 days after dose two was 81 percent, 57 percent after more than 180 days from dose two, and 90 percent 14 or more days after dose three.

A second CDC paper, based on data from 25 US state and local jurisdictions, found that vaccine efficacy against infection waned from 93 percent prior to Delta to around 80 percent when Delta became dominant, but protection against death remained stable and high at 94 percent.

Vaccine efficacy against infection fell to 68 percent by the time Omicron emerged. The authors weren't able to derive an estimate for vaccine efficacy against death during Omicron, because of a lag in reporting, but the broad scientific expectation is that it will remain very high.

The paper also showed that while deaths among fully vaccinated people rose sharply during the Delta wave -- totaling more than 20,000 people between July to November -- unvaccinated people were still 16 times more likely to die during the same period.

Protection was even greater for people who were boosted. Between October to November, unvaccinated people were around 50 times more likely to die from Covid than people who were vaccinated and boosted.

ia/caw
Honduras' next president blasts party for 'betrayal' in Congress


FILE PHOTO: Honduras' president-elect Xiomara Castro receives her presidential credentials during a ceremony, in Tegucigalpa

Fri, January 21, 2022,
By Gustavo Palencia

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) -Honduran president-elect Xiomara Castro on Friday accused some of her party's lawmakers of "betrayal" after they broke a pact with a key ally, potentially putting in jeopardy Castro's ability to pass a sweeping agenda through Congress.

Lawmakers from Castro's leftist Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre) and two other parties appointed a member of their caucus as president of Congress, breaking an agreement to appoint a lawmaker from the Partido Salvador de Honduras (PSH), an ally that helped Castro claim victory.

The lawmakers said the appointment was aimed at protecting Castro's incoming government. But she threatened to block the new head of Congress from being sworn in on Jan. 27, the day she takes office.

"The betrayal was done!" Castro wrote on Twitter. "I don't need traitors to protect me."

She said her party had expelled the 18 lawmakers who had supported the decision to go against naming a PSH member to the top post of Congress.

Castro also called for Libre members from around the country to converge in the capital Tegucigalpa for a vigil from Saturday night through early Sunday in what she called an act to "repudiate the attempted kidnapping of the legislative power."

Under Honduran law, lawmakers need a majority plus one to appoint the directors of the chamber or have the power to reform or repeal laws. Libre and its allies won 60 of the 128 seats in the single-house Congress.

Castro promised ally PSH leadership of Congress after its candidate, Salvador Nasralla, stepped down from the race and pledged support to Castro, the wife of former President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted in a coup in 2009.

Nasralla described Friday's action as "another coup like in 2009" against Hondurans who voted for Castro with the expectation that PSH would lead Congress.

Going against the deal with PSH will likely impact Castro's ability to prevail in Congress, analysts said.

"Undoubtedly, although the dissident deputies say they support her campaign promises, they weaken their ability to fulfill those that have to go through Congress," said Eugenio Sosa, a professor at Honduras' National Autonomous University.

(Reporting by Gustavo Palencia, Writing by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
Portuguese Socialists' lead for Jan. 30 election narrows, poll shows

FILE PHOTO: Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Costa speaks during a news conference to announce the new measures amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, at Ajuda Palace in Lisbon

Fri, January 21, 2022, 
By Sergio Goncalves

LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's centre-left ruling Socialists lost ground in an opinion poll published on Friday that left it with the narrowest lead in all recent surveys, keeping the ballot wide open just 10 days before a snap general election.

Prime Minister Antonio Costa's party dropped to 37% support, according to the survey by Catolica pollsters, from 39% in the same poll a week ago, while their main rivals, the centre-right Social Democrats, rose to 33% from 30%.

It leaves the Socialist Party further away from a parliamentary majority, which under the proportional representation system equates to between 42% and 45% of the vote.

In October, Costa's two former allies - the Communists and Left Bloc - sided with right-wing parties to reject the minority government's budget bill, triggering the snap election set for Jan. 30.

Analysts say the election alone might not solve Portugal's political impasse as no party or known alliance is likely to win a working majority.

The Left Bloc lost one percentage point, polling at 5%, the same level of support as for the Communists.

Costa has said a new alliance with the two former partners is no longer possible, and signalled he might seek support from smaller parties such as the People-Animals-Nature (PAN). Catolica's poll gave them just 2% support, down from 3% a week ago.

The far-right party Chega would become the third-largest force in parliament, polling at 6%.

The share of voting intentions for the Liberal Initiative party rose one percentage point to 5%, while the right-wing CDS-PP and the eco-Socialist Livre could win 2% apiece, both unchanged.

The margin of error in the Catolica University poll, which surveyed 1,256 people on Jan. 12-18, was 2.6%.

(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; editing by Andrei Khalip, William Maclean)
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene sold up to $15,000 worth of Activision Blizzard stock on the day Microsoft announced plans to buy the video game company



Azmi Haroun,Dave Levinthal
Fri, January 21, 2022

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a stock disclosure that she sold up to $15,000 worth of Activision stock on January 18.

Microsoft's announced plans to acquire video-game giant Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion on the same day.

Activision's stock soared that day, and Greene reported more than $200 in capital gains from the sale.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a stock disclosure indicating she sold up to $15,000 worth of Activision Blizzard stock on January 18 — the day news broke of plans for the video game company to be purchased by Microsoft.

Greene reported more than $200 in capital gains on the sale on the disclosure form, which she filed with Thursday with the Clerk of the House of Representatives. It was not immediately clear how much Greene — a freshman Republican from Georgia and one of Congress' most polarizing members — pocketed from the sale.


A stock trade disclosure from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican of GeorgiaUS House of Representatives

On Tuesday, Microsoft announced plans to acquire video-game giant Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. If the deal is greenlit, it will be the largest-ever deal in the tech industry. On the same day, Activision's price soared.

There is no indication that Greene violated the STOCK Act by making this trade.

Greene ranks among Congress' most active stock traders. She was the first member of Congress to invest in Donald Trump's social media company, TRUTH social, and has had no problem investing in companies that espouse social views that clash with her own, such as those on Black Lives Matter.

Greene's office could not be reached for immediate comment on the recent sale of Activision Blizzard stock. In September, Greene told Insider, "I have an independent investment advisor that has full discretionary authority on my accounts. I do not direct any trades."

Greene's stock sale comes in the background of Insider's new investigative reporting project, "Conflicted Congress," which chronicled the myriad ways members of the US House and Senate have eviscerated their own ethical standards, avoided consequences, and blinded Americans to the many moments when lawmakers' personal finances clash with their public duties.

The project identified 54 members of Congress who've failed to properly report their financial trades as mandated by the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012, also known as the STOCK Act.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat who in December said lawmakers should be allowed to trade individual stocks, reversed course this month, saying she was now open to a stock trading ban for lawmakers.

"If members want to do that, I'm okay with that," Pelosi told reporters on Thursday.

Microsoft was the No. 2 most popular stock among members of Congress, according to an Insider analysis of congressional financial records. As part of Insider's "Conflicted Congress" project, Greene received a "solid" rating on the strength of her disclosing her various stock trades on time.

Only 10 members of Congress have placed their assets in a "qualified blind trust" — a formal, congressionally approved financial vehicle independently managed by a trustee and designed to prevent conflicts of interest. Greene is not among them.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Chile's president-elect unveils young, woman-majority cabinet


Chile's president-elect Gabriel Boric has announced a young, diverse and woman-majority cabinet (AFP/Javier TORRES)


Fri, January 21, 2022

Chile's leftist president-elect Gabriel Boric, whose victory at the polls last month unsettled the markets, on Friday named the country's Central Bank governor as his finance minister in a young, diverse and woman-majority cabinet.

Mario Marcel, an independent politician and former member of the Socialist Party, with which he maintains strong ties, had held various roles under center-left governments from 1990 to 2008.

Now 62, he was appointed Reserve Bank governor by Socialist former president Michelle Bachelet for a five-year term that started in late 2016 and continued under her center-right successor Sebastian Pinera.

Marcel was the favorite of the markets, which view his appointment as a sign of moderation in the economic reforms Boric had vowed to implement.

Boric, painted by his detractors as a "communist," succeeded in mobilizing record turnout in the December 19 vote, and garnered nearly 56 percent of votes cast, compared to 44 percent for ultra-conservative Jose Antonio Kast.

In a leftist coalition that includes Chile's Communist Party, Boric campaigned on promises of creating a "welfare state," increasing taxes and social spending.

Kast, in turn, had pledged to protect the neo-liberal economic model left behind by dictator Augusto Pinochet -- credited with Chile's relative wealth but blamed for a yawning gap between rich and poor.

Investors reacted nervously to Boric's victory, with the SP IPSA index closing 6.18 percent down the day after the election, while the Chilean peso ceded 3.4 percent to the US dollar to reach an historic rate of 876.

- Increasing taxes -

Marcel will take over amid expectations of an economic slowdown after growth of about 12 percent in 2021 due in large part to government grants to help with the coronavirus fallout, and individual withdrawals from private pension funds.

Chile's central bank has been increasing interest rates to halt inflation, and grants will stop, too.

Marcel will also have the tough task of implementing Boric's plan to increase taxes to fund social projects.

Analyst Marcelo Mella of the University of Santiago said choosing Marcel was a nod to the markets, as he "has credibility on the right and in the private sector."

This was a good starting point, Mella added, "for making the very difficult decisions the president will have to make this year."

- 14 women -


With a 24-member cabinet of whom a third are independents, Boric is seeking to expand the reach of his leftwing political coalition in a Congress divided near 50-50 between the left and right.

"The general outlook is a positive one in terms of breaking down the walls the president needs to break for a majority project with parliamentary backing," said Mella.

Fourteen members of the new team are women.

For interior minister, Boric chose Izkia Siches, 35, a surgeon who in 2017 became the first female president of the Medical College, a professional association of physicians.

Siches, who led Boric's presidential campaign, will also be Chile's first female interior minister.

The team also includes former student leaders and lawmakers Giorgio Jackson and Communist Camila Vallejo, who together with Boric led protests in 2011 for free schooling.

Maya Fernandez -- the granddaughter of Marxist former president Salvador Allende who died in the 1973 coup d'etat led by Pinochet -- will be defense minister.

The new foreign minister will be 53-year-old lawyer Antonia Urrejola, former president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

"We are accompanied in this team of ministers by people of diverse backgrounds and training, a diverse cabinet," said Boric as he unveiled his team.

The average age is 49. The youngest, at 32, is new Women's Affairs Minister Antonia Orellana. Seven of the cabinet members are in their 30s.

Boric, elected at 35, will be Chile's youngest-ever president and one of the youngest in world history.

He will be sworn in on March 11.

On Friday, Boric named his priorities: managing the coronavirus pandemic, encouraging economic growth with social inclusion and ensuring the success of the process to write a new constitution to replace the Pinochet-era document still in place.

pa/ll/mlr/to

Chile's Boric unveils centrist Cabinet as markets breath sigh of relief



Chilean President-elect Gabriel Boric speaks during the presentation of his first cabinet in Santiago

Fri, January 21, 2022, 
By Fabian Cambero and Natalia A. Ramos Miranda

SANTIAGO (Reuters) -Chile's leftist President-elect Gabriel Boric unveiled his Cabinet on Friday, throwing markets and investors a bone by picking current central bank head Mario Marcel to be the Andean country's finance minister.

Boric also named Izkia Siches, a prominent doctor and part of his campaign team, as the interior minister and his deputy, as well as lawmaker Marcela Hernando for the key role of mining minister, where copper and lithium development will be in focus.


The balanced make-up of the incoming government suggests Boric, a 35-year-old lawmaker and former student protest leader, may look to push gradual reforms rather than abrupt changes some had feared in the world's top copper producing nation.

"Naming Mario Marcel as finance minister is a very good sign of economic stability, seen positively by markets," said Miguel Angel Lopez, a public affairs professor at the University of Chile, adding it was a mix of coalition allies and technocrats.

"It's all linked to a much more centrist, more pragmatic shift in terms of what Boric wants to do in his government."

The new government, which will take office on March 11, was made up of members of parties across the political spectrum, reflecting a fragmented and diverse Congress. Women will lead more than half of the ministries.

Boric pledged during the election campaign to enact major reforms to Chile's market-led economic model, rattling investors, though he has moderated his tone since, boosting Chile's markets and currency.

The peso currency strengthened early on Friday to under 800 per dollar for the first time since November. A select index of Chilean equities also rose more than 2%.

'GREAT REFORMS'

Boric during the campaign pledged to "bury" Chile's market-orientated model, which has driven growth in the South American country in recent decades but has also deepened inequality, triggering months of social protests at the end of 2019.

He has promised to reform the private pension and health systems and raise taxes to finance greater social spending.

"This Cabinet's mission is to lay the foundations for the great reforms that we have proposed in our program," Boric said after unveiling his ministers, adding that it would look to drive economic growth while cutting out "structural inequalities."

"We are talking about sustainable growth accompanied by a fair redistribution of wealth," he said.

Chile, a global front-runner in the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines, ended last year as the world's best-performing economy, buoyed by large state spending and several rounds of private pensions withdrawals to ease the impact of the pandemic.

Boric will, however, have to contend with signs of an overheating economy and inflation, as well as a fragmented Congress, which analysts say will force him to seek consensus with more centrist sectors.

"One of Boric's biggest challenges will be cooling down the economy and retaining popular support," Oxford Economics said in a report, adding that the young leader would face pressure to increase social spending while meeting tighter budget targets.

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Chilean peso has rallied from record low https://tmsnrt.rs/3rEpA0i

Chilean peso has rallied from record low (Interactive) https://tmsnrt.rs/3qL0Uny

Latin America bond yield spreads https://tmsnrt.rs/3ryvBvG

Latin America bond yield spreads (Interactive) https://tmsnrt.rs/3KumAMH

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(Reporting by Fabián Andrés Cambero and Natalia Ramos; Editing by Sandra Maler, Chizu Nomiyama and Paul Simao)