Four big cable repair ships are converging on six submarine fiber optic cables damaged by an earthquake off Taiwan Dec. 26, trying to turn around the consequences of a “freak” seismic event that all but cut eastern Asia out of the Internet and sent a shiver through cyberspace as if someone had walked on its grave. Two ships were already at work by Jan. 4 and the others were enroute. The initial quake—measured at 6.7 on the Richter scale by Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau and 7.1 by scientist in the U.S.— with aftershocks, sequentially knocked out six of seven critical, deepwater telecommunications links off the southwest coast of the island.
The damage severely disrupted telecommunications and Internet service between North America and a vast swath of Asia, impacting not only Taiwan, but Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia and Singapore as well. Voice traffic was restored fairly quickly but more data-intensive, international Internet services have been only gradually improved by rerouting traffic through satellites and other cables via Australia and Europe. Complete restoration may not be finished until early February. The 140-m-long Tyco Durable is the first vessel on the scene.