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By Nick Perry

The Associated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand 鈥� Samantha Moala recalls she was taking a shower at her home in Tonga when she heard what sounded like a gunshot so powerful it hurt her ears.

As she and her family scrambled to their car to drive inland, ash blackened the sky. The world鈥檚 biggest volcanic eruption in 30 years sent a tsunami around the globe, and the first waves washed across the road as Moala drove to safety at the airport with her terrified husband and two sons.

Moala, 39, a volunteer with the Tonga Red Cross, soon began tending to the cuts suffered by other evacuees and providing them with psychological support. About 50 of them stayed at the airport for two days, she said, until they got the all-clear to go back home.

鈥淧eople were all shocked,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut I got to mingle with them, help them, get them to be confident. It鈥檚 a small, little island, and we got to know each other in two hours.鈥�

Three months after the eruption, reconstruction in Tonga is progressing slowly, and the聽impact of the disaster聽has come into clearer focus. Last week, the prime minister handed over the keys to the first home of 468 the government plans to reconstruct across three islands as part of its recovery program.

Some 3,000 people whose homes were destroyed or damaged initially sought shelter in community halls or evacuation centers. Eighty percent of Tonga鈥檚 population was impacted in some way.

In the first few weeks after the eruption, Moala helped by putting up tents and tarpaulins, and then by cooking food for other volunteers.

Workers needed five long weeks to聽restore Tonga鈥檚 internet connection聽to the rest of the world after the tsunami severed a crucial fiber-optic cable. That delayed efforts of some families abroad to send financial help to their loved ones.

Three people in Tonga died from the tsunami and a fourth from what authorities described as related trauma. The sonic boom from the eruption was so loud it could be heard in Alaska and a mushroom plume of ash rocketed a record 36 miles into the sky.

The World Bank estimated the total bill for the damage at about $90 million. For the small island nation of 105,000 people, that鈥檚 equivalent to more than 18 percent of gross domestic product.

The bank noted that many coastal tourism businesses 鈥� which bring in vital foreign revenue for Tonga 鈥� were particularly hard-hit, with tourist cabins and wharves destroyed. The agriculture industry also suffered, with crops lost and reef fisheries damaged.

The ANZ bank says Tonga鈥檚 GDP will likely contract by 7.4 percent this year; it had been expected to grow by 3.7 percent before the volcano erupted.

The international community has assisted recovery. Tonga has secured $8 million in funding from the World Bank and $10 million from the Asian Development Bank, as well as aid from places including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the European Union, the U.S. and China.

But progress has been hampered by the nation鈥檚聽first outbreak of COVID-19, which was likely brought in by foreign military crews who raced to drop off supplies as the ash cleared. The outbreak prompted a series of lockdowns, and the country remains in a state of emergency.

Moala is among more than 8,500 Tongans who have caught the coronavirus since it began spreading through the islands. Eleven people so far have died. Moala said the outbreak has affected many businesses, including her husband鈥檚 work as a tattoo artist.

But as the outbreak ebbs and reconstruction progresses, the islands鈥� familiar rhythms are returning for many people.

Among those who remain most affected are the 62 people who lived on Mango Island and around another 100 on Atata Island who may never be able to return home. The islands are located very close to the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha鈥檃pai volcano, and the villages were completed wiped out. Residents have now been offered land by Tonga鈥檚 king to relocate onto one of the nation鈥檚 two main islands.

Sione Taumoefolau, the secretary-general of the Tonga Red Cross Society, said there is a lot of work to be done relocating the residents.

It鈥檚 also been slow-going getting supplies to people on other far-flung islands, he said. Many of them remain without internet access after a domestic fiber-optic cable was damaged. It likely will not be repaired for months.

鈥淭hree months later, people are starting to get back to normal,鈥� Taumoefolau said. 鈥淏ut we can see they still need psychological and social support, those that were really impacted, especially those who have to relocate.鈥�