Seems the volcano event cut the internet submarine cable going out of Tonga. And no communications. No ham radio there?
From the New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/18/world/australia/tonga-volcano-covid.htmlSYDNEY, Australia — A cleanup and evacuation operation has begun in Tonga, where the island nation’s government, after days of silence, said Tuesday night that an epic volcanic eruption and the tsunami and ash clouds that followed were an “unprecedented disaster.”
International efforts to deliver aid have been complicated not just by the ash and by damaged communication lines,
For three days after the eruption of the volcano, Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, about 40 miles off Tonga,
little was heard from the nation of about 100,000. The eruption caused “a volcanic mushroom plume” and tsunami waves of up to 15 meters that hit the west coasts of several islands. The internet remained down, and communications, which were severed because of the eruption, were limited on the islands.
Mr. Tu’ihalangingie, the Tongan diplomat in Australia, said it would be weeks before phone or internet connections to the outside world were fully restored.
“We still have limited access to Tonga,” he told ABC Radio in Australia. “We still don’t have a direct communication with our government.”
Did ham radio provide the above "little was heard from the nation"?