For the first time, five newly certified drone pilots from the Tongan Ministry of Communications, the National Emergency Management Office - NEMO Tonga, Tonga Geological Services, Government of Tonga. and Tonga Civil Aviation will work as part of a capacity building taskforce using drone technology to strengthen emergency disaster management in Tonga in the wake of the catastrophic eruption of the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai submarine volcano in January.

The ETC-facilitated training provided Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) licenses issued by Drone Trust New Zealand.