In January 2022, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai underwater volcano in Tonga erupted explosively, one of the most powerful recorded in the 21st century. The blast generated tsunamis across the Pacific, atmospheric shockwaves detected globally, and significant water vapor injection into the stratosphere from the site near the main Tongan islands. It disrupted communications and infrastructure in the Kingdom of Tonga.

The recent Hunga Tonga event has quickly entered contemporary Pacific poetry, highlighting themes of oceanic vulnerability, indigenous knowledge, and global connectivity in the climate crisis era. Poets from Tonga and Oceania use it to meditate on resilience and ancestral ties to volatile seascapes. It fosters new literary responses bridging science and myth, akin to how past eruptions shaped Romantic and modernist sensibilities.