New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the Royal NZ Air Force surveillance flights have sighted “significant damage” to Tonga’s capital Nuku’alofa two days after the eruption of the nearby undersea Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano sent waves crashing into the tiny island nation and blanketing much of it with ash, contaminating water supplies, the New Zealand Herald reports. What little communication that has come from the island has been via satellite phone as internet cables were severed in the eruption. As such, Ardern’s government said the Kiwis aren’t waiting for the Tongans to ask for help. “We have placed personnel on shortened notices to move and Royal New Zealand Navy ships are being readied for deployment and may deploy ahead of a formal request for assistance, given the distance to Tonga,” an NZ defense spokesperson said.