Catholic Cathedral, Nuku'alofa, Tonga

Nice reflections! Unfortunately i missed this view because i didn´t go round this church...

Cheers, Andreas!

Thanks Andreas. Even if you had gone around to this side of the cathedral you would not have seen this picture. It was taken one morning after a week of torrential rain from a tropical cyclone (hurricane) in Feb 1999. The low lying area only fills with water after prolonged heavy rain, for as you know Tongatapu is a coral island and there rarely is any surface water. Even the Monsignor at this cathedral is most impressed by the picture - he is here with us at the moment in a peacebuilding convocation, partly in response to last November's destructive violence in Nuku'alofa. There is so much beauty in Tonga but too much tolerance of violence, sadly. Maybe we will see a sea-change in this attitude now.

Andreas, Did you intend a link to "church" photos. The link didn't work. Regards.

That explains why i couldn´t find this pond... You´re right, Tonga is full of beauty and the people were really kind to me when i was there in April 2005. I was shocked to hear about the riots in November last year. A friend of mine visited Tongatapu at that time, but luckily she didn´t get in trouble.

The link was intented to guide you to my picture of this church. I can create a link to a homepage, but i don´t know why it didn´t work for the picture directly...

Greetings from Germany, Andreas!

Thanks Andreas. You do not have to provide a link for me for I went straight to Your Photos page. The riots were a shock to Tongans generally, though there were signs that this would happen. I suspect that the actual event involving arson and looting that resulted in deaths was begun as a copycat idea that had been seen on TV from Honiara, where the boil over from the election of PM after the general elections resulted in the destruction of most businesses in Chinatown as well as schools and homes.

Hi Lincluden. I am delighted to see this picture for I haven't been to Tonga, but I have been with the Priest from here at a 2 month program in peacebuilding in Sydney. I send greetings from the Highlands to Fr Sione Kaota in the Tongan lowlands. Paul

Wikipedia Tonga

Other Website using this photo http://in.glue.yahoo.com/page/migration%20to%20newzealand

Amazing foto. And the tower of the cathedral is original. What is the full name of this church?

The photo you have uploaded as your first on Panoramio is a very good and clear image. This church in Nuku'alofa, Tonga is St Mary's Cathedral. because the island is coralline limestone there are not many occasions when there is water lying here. But there was that Saturday, after a week of torrential rain from a tropical cyclone.

in Tonga, this days, What happened to the underwater earthquakes and tsunamis?

Wonderful place, very nice reflections.

Greetings, FM.

Dear pacortiz_bc,

The tsunami from the earthquake near northern islands of Tonga and near Samoa resulted in around 145 deaths in Samoa & American Samoa, and there were also 10 deaths on Niua-topu-tapu Island in northern Tonga. The town of Hihifo on Niuatoputapu was swept away, but the quake had almost everyone moving out and up the slopes. Last Thursday there was another tsunami warning following 7.3M & 7.1M quakes in Vanuatu, but with no apparent effects here in Tonga. But everyone is talking about tsunamis. Only today I was asked twice to explain tsunamis and questions were asked as to whether they are becoming more frequent.

Thanks for your inquiry and concern.

Ian (currently in Tonga)

Thankyou for your visit and appreciative remark, FM. This water was the result of a tropical cyclone that had drenched Tonga for the preceding week. In my previous reply to pacortix_bc you will notice that I have given an update on the recent disaster that affected northern Tonga.

Warm regards,

Ian

very nice!

Thanks carlosdaris.

Ian