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Tonga – 10-12 km Off the coast of the main island of Tongatapu the ocean is a spectacular scene of enormous columns of smoke and ash clouds rising from the ocean thanks to a underwater erupting volcano.

Nuku’alofa felt sharp tremors of the last three weeks and last Friday an earthquake struck 20 miles (35 km) off the coast at a depth of nearly 150 km. It is not yet determined if the two are linked.

In 2002 a small islet appeared in the same area after a smaller eruption.

Tonga, a 170-island archipelago about halfway between Australia and Tahiti, is part of the Pacific "ring of fire" - an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones stretching from Chile in South America through Alaska and down through Vanuatu to Tonga.