Taiwan Quakes Disrupt Asian Internet

Two quakes measuring 6.7 and 7.1 on the Richter scale on Tuesday that struck off the coast of Taiwan damaged undersea cables carrying Internet traffic, causing slowdowns in Internet access throughout the Asian continent and wreaking havoc on the financial markets. Damage was bringing down data transfer by as much as half in some cases, and it could take weeks before service is fully restored.

Undersea cables that carry both voice and data run throughout the Pacific, many of which are routed through Taiwan. As of early morning Wednesday, only about 10 percent of international calls were completed. The worst of the disruptions seemed to be in Taiwan itself, where only half of the normal telecommunications capacity was available after two out of the four lines were cut.