http://apnews.myway.com/article/20061227/D8M988MO0.html
Taiwan Quake Disrupts Phone, Web Service
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Dec 27, 9:33 AM (ET)
By STEPHAN GRAUWELS
(AP) A Taiwanese commuter rides his scooter over a fault line that
cracked the road after a 6.7...
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TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - Telephone lines and Internet service went dead
across much of Asia on Wednesday after two powerful earthquakes
damaged undersea cables used by several countries to route calls and
online traffic.
Repairing the cables could take weeks because crews have to pull them
up and transfer them to a ship for repair, said Lin Jen-hung, vice
general manager of Chunghwa Telecom Co., Taiwan's largest phone company.
The quakes jolted Taiwan late Tuesday, setting off a tsunami alert on
the second anniversary of the Dec. 26, 2004, waves and quake that
killed 230,000 in nine countries from the Indonesian islands to east
Africa.
No large waves materialized this time but two people were killed when
their home collapsed.
Two cables were damaged, both off Taiwan's coast, Chunghwa said.
The company reported a 50 percent loss of overall telephone capacity,
with connections to China, Japan and Southeast Asia most affected.
Chunghwa also said almost all of Taiwan's communications capacity
with Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong was disrupted. Also
hard hit was telephone service to the U.S., where 60 percent of
capacity was lost, the company said.
Internet access in Beijing was cut or extremely slow, while Japanese
customers were having trouble calling India and the Middle East. In
South Korea, dozens of companies and institutions were affected,
including the country's Foreign Ministry.
Hong Kong telephone company PCCW Ltd. (PCW), which also provides
Internet service, said the quake cut its data capacity in half. Many
Internet users were unable to access Web sites in parts of America,
Taiwan and South Korea. Calls to Taiwan weren't connecting.
Internet access was cut or extremely slow in Beijing, said an
official from China Netcom, China's No. 2 phone company. The
official, who would not give his name, said the cause was thought to
be the earthquake, but he had no further details.
Businesses in various parts of the city also said they were
experiencing Internet access problems.
CCTV, the state-run television network, said China Telecom Corp.,
China's biggest phone company, was contacting counterparts in the
U.S. and Europe about using satellites to make up for the shortfall.
KDDI Corp., Japan's major carrier for international calls, said its
fixed-line telephone service was affected by the quake. Company
spokesman Haruhiko Maeda said customers were having trouble calling
India and the Middle East, which are usually use the cables near Taiwan.
Maeda said the company was rerouting calls to go through the U.S. and
Europe and the company did not know how long it will take to repair
the cables.
Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said that
international roaming service provided by Japan's major three
telecommunications - NTT DoCoMO, KDDI, and Softbank, was affected.
Ministry official Akira Yamanaka said that some customers were unable
to make calls using their cell phones in countries including Taiwan.
South Korea's largest telecom company, KT, said that lines it uses
were damaged, affecting dozens of companies and institutions,
including South Korea's Foreign Ministry.
However, the quake didn't cause problems for ordinary people using
Internet and telephone service, according to Ku Ja-hong, a KT spokesman.
The quake, which hit offshore from the southern town of Hengchun, was
felt throughout Taiwan. It shook buildings and knocked objects off
the shelves in the capital, Taipei, in the northern part of the island.
The U.S. Geological Survey estimated its magnitude at 7.1, while
Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau measured it at 6.7. It was followed
eight minutes later by 7.0 magnitude aftershock, the USGS said. A 5.9-
magnitude aftershock struck early Wednesday, the Central Weather
Bureau said.
Two members of one family were killed in Hengchun when their four-
story home collapsed. The quake injured 42 people, three homes
collapsed and 12 fires broke out, the National Fire Agency said.
Quakes frequently shake Taiwan, which is part of the Pacific's "Ring
of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific
Basin. Most are minor and cause little or no damage. However, a 7.6-
magnitude earthquake in central Taiwan in September 1999 killed more
than 2,300 people.
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