TCC and Digicel, both telecom providers, announced that data connectivity was restored to two main islands after breakages in a 50-mile cable were finally repaired.
Residents reported that services were rapidly coming back online after being offline for 38 days. Email seemed to be going at breakneck speed, and there were a lot of calls coming in from relatives overseas.
“YES! TCC is restoring fiber-optic internet services,” TCC stated in a message to customers.
The powerful eruption of January 15th was heard far away in Alaska. It caused a tsunami that flooded the Pacific coast.
It covered Tonga in ash and strangled a length of the undersea cables, which proved to be more difficult than anticipated.
Only a few satellite links were available to Tonga immediately after the disaster. While some connectivity was restored later, it was limited.
Digicel stated that “data connectivity was restored” to two islands following repairs to “multiple faults, breaks”.
“We are thrilled to see that customers are connected to outside world again,” stated Anthony Seuseu, CEO Digicel Tonga.
James Panuve, CEO of Tonga Cable Limited, stated earlier this month that a repair ship had found the damaged ends of the cable connecting Tonga and Fiji that had been cut during the blast.
Panuve stated that the ship had found an eruption to cause a large portion of the cable to be shredded into many pieces. The explosion also pummeled seabed with the explosive power of a nuclear bomb.
He stated, “It is evident that the eruptions, shockwaves (and tsunami) caused major havoc underwater.”
Panuve stated that, after battling with bad weather, the cable repair ship Reliance had to retrieve sections from cable in deep water.
He stated that one section was moved by the undersea blast three miles away and that another was buried beneath a foot of silt.
Three people were killed by the Hunga Tonga Ha’apai volcano eruption.
U.N. agencies report that the tsunami and eruption also caused damage to 293 homes and forced 1,525 people from their homes.
Around 85 percent of the population was affected by this disaster. Fresh water was difficult to find and arable land was covered in ash at times.
Tonga received aid even though it was not allowed to contact the country. However, an international relief effort caused a COVID-19 epidemic in the nation that had been virus-free.
