The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano(pictured here on January 6th) erupted on January 14th. | Photo by Maxar via Getty Images
The effects of a colossal volcanic eruption in the Pacific archipelago of Tonga are still being calculated, but one consequence is clear: Tonga has been cut off from the internet, after the lone undersea cable that connects the country to the rest of the web was damaged during the eruption.
Like many island nations, Tonga relies on just a single undersea cable, about the thickness of a garden hose and filled with fragile fiber-optic filaments, to get citizens online. But on Tuesday, the government of Tonga said “communications both international and domestic were severed due to damage sustained by the submarine cable.”
The government added that “limited…
