Diary of a disaster: the week that Tonga went silent

Seven days after a massive volcanic eruption that spawned a tsunami and ash cloud, communications are still largely down and the scale of the catastrophe unknown

It was the week Tonga disappeared.

Riveted by the shocking satellite images of the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano and subsequent tsunami, the eyes of the world turned to the South Pacific island country, home to about 100,000 people, on Saturday. But just as the world was desperate for news from Tonga, it went dark.