Wellington, New Zealand on Wednesday said at least four weeks would be needed to repair the undersea cable, connecting the island country Tonga with the outside world, destroyed during the recent volcanic eruption.
"US cable company SubCom advises it will take at least four weeks for Tonga's cable connection to be repaired," said New Zealand foreign affairs ministry in a statement.
According to The Guardian, Tonga is dependent on the international cable, part of a network of 19 subsea cables that criss-cross the south Pacific, for its phone and internet connection with the rest of the world.
The isolated country has been unable to establish external contact since the violent volcanic eruption severed the country's only underwater sea cable in two places.
Tonga was hit by tsunami after a violent eruption of an undersea volcano occurred in Hunga Ha'apai island on January 15.
At least three people have died while several houses have been destroyed.
According to BBC, scant communication has been established, enabled through a few satellite phones mainly held by foreign embassies in the capital city Nuku'alofa.
On Tuesday, some aerial images prepared by the New Zealand defence force for the Tongan government got leaked online. These images showed some areas blanketed with ash and damaged buildings.
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