Well here is how Amateur Radio served an island -- from The Amateur Radio
News Line.

RESCUE RADIO: NIUE DEVASTATION REPORTED BY HAM RADIO

From the rescue radio file, word that radio amateurs became a lifeline when
tropical cyclone Heta ripped through the tiny island republic of Niue two
weeks
ago. The storm left the tropical paradise with no regular means of
communicating with the outside world and summoning much needed relief aid.
Enter ham radio.

According to news reports, a radio operator on the island put out a a call
for
help which was answered by Steve McCully, W7TZ/ZF2CQ, in the California
community of Oak Hills. In fact, it was McCully who phoned the New Zealand
Consul General in Los Angeles and provided that government with its first
notification that Niue had been ravaged by 186 mile per hour winds.

NOTE: "The storm left the tropical paradise with no regular means of
communicating with the outside world and summoning much needed relief aid.
Enter ham radio."