Almost 11 weeks after a major volcanic eruption in Tonga caused a tsunami to ripple through the region, Vanuatu locals are still concerned about the adequacy of their country's tsunami warning system.
The boom of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai volcano was heard in multiple countries on 16 January 2022, with huge waves and evacuations the result in several Pacific island nations.
One of those affected nations was Vanuatu.
Vanuatu resident Anthea Arenumbatt learned about the eruption on social media and started getting phone calls from people that lived next to the beach.
Ms Arenumbatt said they told her they were seeing waves going out and not returning and so were moving to higher ground.
She said says no emergency warning came from disaster authorities, which left people confused.
"A lot of us were really unhappy that the meteorological centre or NDMO didn't have any warning come out until 6 or 7 at night-time," Ms Arenumbatt told Pacific Beat.
"By then people were already at higher ground because they were noticing weird behaviour with the sea."
The Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-Hazards Department explained to local media that they only have a system to detect tsunamis triggered by an underwater earthquake — and not a volcano.
Co-director of the joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre, Dr Yeulong Miao, said that's a fair explanation.
Dr Miao said the technology to determine whether a volcano eruption will cause a tsunami is relatively basic, but requires trained operators to monitor satellite imagery 24 hours a day.
He said he hoped that in the near future the telecommunications industry could be persuaded to produce undersea cables that double as environmental sensors.
Anthea Arenumbatt said that time can't come soon enough, and until it's a reality she wants to see better regional cooperation during disasters.
"The question should have been asked: the eruption has happened, it's within the same ocean we are in, could there be an after effect that stretches are far as Vanuatu, are we completely safe or should we be on alert?"