KQED

Business Services > Broadcasting

The tsunami threat around the Pacific from a huge undersea volcanic eruption began to recede Sunday, while the extent of damage to Tonga remained unclear to family and loved ones back in the Bay Area.

The eruption cut the internet to Tonga, leaving friends and family members around the world anxiously trying to get in touch to figure out even basic information, like the number of injuries, or amount of damage, to the homes of their friends and family.

Even government websites and other official sources remained without updates on Sunday afternoon.

Mele Pauta, a Tongan interpreter in the Bay Area, lives in Palo Alto, told KQED she was unable to contact her cousins and family, some of whom live right on the coast. They usually communicate by Facebook messenger. But after the tsunami, she got only silence.

"None of them answered," Pauta said. "We were worried, my family and I, we were worried about our relatives back home in Tonga."

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