Three people in Tonga were killed by the January 15 tsunami,
dozens of homes were destroyed and drinking water was tainted.
The fibre-optic cable is now fully operational again after
being reconnected Tuesday, said Samiuela Fonua, the chairperson at Tonga Cable,
the state-owned company that owns the cable.
“It's a huge relief when you know things have come to the
end and are working well,” Fonua told The Associated Press. “It's one step
forward for the country.”
Fonua said the crew aboard a repair ship replaced about 90
kilometres (56 miles) of cable that had been damaged by the tsunami. His
company didn't have enough spare cable, Fonua added, and needed to borrow some
from other companies.
The fix means that Tonga Cable can now focus on repairing a
second severed cable that connects some of the outer islands to the main
island, Fonua said. That cable runs close to the undersea volcano.
Fonua said that entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX company had
also been helping restore connections through its network of low-orbit
satellites called Starlink.
Fonua said his company had been testing the satellite
connections this week and they had been working well. He said that now the main
cable was restored, he hoped the SpaceX connections could be used for
reconnecting people on some of the outer islands.
Officials in neighboring Fiji said SpaceX had established a
station there to help restore connections in Tonga.
Tonga has also been grappling with its first outbreak of the
coronavirus, which may have been brought in by foreign military crews aboard
ships and planes delivering vital aid after the eruption.
The outbreak has grown to more than 250 cases but so far
there have been no reported deaths. The country of 105,000 has begun easing
some virus restrictions after initially imposing a lockdown.
Tongan health officials say that 90 percent of people aged 12
and over have had at least two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
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