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Swept under by a tsunami, but safe.

The sweet sounds of survival stories are slowly being told to the Tongan community in Hawke’s Bay – bringingrelief to those who feared their families were lost.

Hastings RSE worker Suliana Kata’s daughter Elisiva Taimikovi was taken under repeatedly, and injured, by the tsunami when it struck Atatā Island on Saturday.

Kata heard from Taimikovi, alive and safe in the capital Nuku’alofa, at 4.45am on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Kata’s first cousin Lisala Folau is now basking in his newfound fame as a “real-life Aquaman” after he swam 7.5km from Atatā Island, population 100, to Tongatapu.

Folau, 57, was swept out to sea when the tsunami waves from the eruption of Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai hit the island, starting a mammoth 28-hour swim to the archipelago’s main island.

Kata’s daughter and 81-year-old bedridden mother were in the forefront of her mind after she watched the tsunami hit them in her house on Atatā, via a video call that then cut out.

“My mother is good, my daughter got hurt, but she’s safe.”

Kata said her daughter explained how she had tried to help “Aquaman” Folau who is a retired, disabled carpenter.

“She said she was trying to take him [Folau] to higher ground when the wave hit – she held on after the waves hit, but they got separated.

“My daughter said Folau wasn’t in a good way when the wave took him out to the reef.

“She was floating on a piece of wood and didn’t have the energy to scream for help. She couldn’t move, she thought she would die.”

Kata said Folau held on to a tree, and it was Folau’s son who had managed to get to higher ground, who found Kata’s daughter.

“He was looking for his dad. It was dark, and it was late by that time, he had a torch with him and he saw my daughter floating not too far from where he was standing.”

Folau reached the shore of the island of Sopu about 10pm on Sunday, floating on a piece of wood for about 7.5km.

On Friday, Kata and her son-in-law Manase Taimikovi drove to Auckland from Hawke’s Bay with food and clothes for their family.

“There is a guy in Tonga I am related to on our island and he has supplied a container in Auckland which we can put food and clothes in for free, so we are going to Auckland.”

The Tongan government confirmed three deaths in relation to Saturday’s eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, and a majority of structures on Atatā, and all houses on the island of Mango were wiped out.

The New Zealand Defence Force described the damage to Atatā as “catastrophic” in its surveillance photo, which was posted online by a resort based there.

The Royal Sunset Island resort posted on Facebook that all residents had been evacuated to the mainland.

The resort was fully submerged by the tsunami and it was not expected there would be much left.

The United Nations Institute for Training and Researchalso released an image of Atatā island on January 18, with an assessment that 72 structures had been damaged and the entire island covered in ash.

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