02-07-2022, 04:04 AM
How an Internet blackout left many desperate for money
Sulieni Layt would send money to his sister-in-law in Tonga every fortnight.
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The Tongan director and broadcaster at Pasifika Radio and TV based in Australia was used to choosing from an array of remittance providers to digitally transmit the funds to her.
But last month's tsunami, triggered by the undersea eruption, caused widespread devastation in Tonga, leaving him unable to remit money to his family at a time when they needed it the most.
"Western Union was offline, MoneyGram was offline … all the usual [remittance] providers were all offline, not only on the main island but also in the outer islands," he told the BBC.
A lifeline for Tongans
Four out of five Tongan households receive remittances from abroad.
This forms a major source of income, equivalent to about 30% of household consumption, according to the World Bank's International Finance Corporation.
Tonga's economy is largely agriculture-driven, but the contribution of remittances from abroad to its GDP outstrips even the export of goods like coconuts, squash, and cassavas.
In fact, a whopping 40% of Tonga's GDP stems from such remittances, which were valued at around $190m (£140m) in 2019.
So the impact of losing the internet was life-altering.
"[The lost connectivity] severed pathways for immediate cash to reach households and communities to help in the emergency response," says Jessica Collins, a Research Fellow of the Pacific Islands Program at the Lowy Institute.
"Desperate for supplies"
For now, local Tongans are relying heavily on international shipments of foreign aid flooding into the country, not only from governments, but by Tongan communities based as far away as Tahiti in French Polynesia and American Samoa.
These supplies have granted some relief, but the inflow of goods and exchange of hands have come at its own price.
On Wednesday, five new Covid cases were detected in Tonga in less than 24 hours, dealing a fresh blow to a country that had, up till now, managed to escape relatively unscathed by the pandemic.
Sulieni Layt would send money to his sister-in-law in Tonga every fortnight.
When SLOTXO became popular, there were many different styles developed, as we saw. Nowadays, whether it looks slot Item Slot vdo movie slots.
The Tongan director and broadcaster at Pasifika Radio and TV based in Australia was used to choosing from an array of remittance providers to digitally transmit the funds to her.
But last month's tsunami, triggered by the undersea eruption, caused widespread devastation in Tonga, leaving him unable to remit money to his family at a time when they needed it the most.
"Western Union was offline, MoneyGram was offline … all the usual [remittance] providers were all offline, not only on the main island but also in the outer islands," he told the BBC.
A lifeline for Tongans
Four out of five Tongan households receive remittances from abroad.
This forms a major source of income, equivalent to about 30% of household consumption, according to the World Bank's International Finance Corporation.
Tonga's economy is largely agriculture-driven, but the contribution of remittances from abroad to its GDP outstrips even the export of goods like coconuts, squash, and cassavas.
In fact, a whopping 40% of Tonga's GDP stems from such remittances, which were valued at around $190m (£140m) in 2019.
So the impact of losing the internet was life-altering.
"[The lost connectivity] severed pathways for immediate cash to reach households and communities to help in the emergency response," says Jessica Collins, a Research Fellow of the Pacific Islands Program at the Lowy Institute.
"Desperate for supplies"
For now, local Tongans are relying heavily on international shipments of foreign aid flooding into the country, not only from governments, but by Tongan communities based as far away as Tahiti in French Polynesia and American Samoa.
These supplies have granted some relief, but the inflow of goods and exchange of hands have come at its own price.
On Wednesday, five new Covid cases were detected in Tonga in less than 24 hours, dealing a fresh blow to a country that had, up till now, managed to escape relatively unscathed by the pandemic.