TAIPEI: Two powerful earthquakes hit Taiwan killing at least two people and injuring more than 40 late Tuesday. The quakes also severely damaged submarine communications cables, disrupting internet and mobile communications in Taiwan and several neighboring countries.
The quakes had hit the southern coast of the country late Tuesday, setting off a tsunami threat on the second anniversary of the 2004 killer tsunami that took a toll of 250,000 people in many Indian Ocean countries. However, no large waves were seen. The two people were killed when their home collapsed.
Taiwan's phone company Chunghwa Telecom Co. said the repair work of the damaged cable will take at least several weeks as these cables will have to be pulled out on to a ship to carry out the repairs. It said there is a 50 per cent loss of overall telephone capacity with connections to China, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia and even the U.S. affected.
The damage also affected internet and telecommunication links between China and other countries, while Japan had problem in reaching India and the Middle East. In South Korea, dozens of companies and institutions were affected.
Japan's ministry of internal affairs and communications said international roaming service provided by the country's telecommunications companies -- NTT DoCoMO, KDDI and Softbank -- had been affected. South Korean telecom company KT said the communications lines it uses have been damaged, affecting dozens of companies and institutions.
The snapping of the communication lines affected the foreign exchange market in Seoul. There was disruption in the Tokyo currency market too.
In India, several back offices and call centers had difficulty with the communication lines, but industry officials said the full extent of the problem would not be known only after a proper assessment when data and voice traffic peaked during European and U.S. business hours.
According to Chunghwa Telecom, the damaged cables include the APCN2 cable and Sea-Me-We3 cables. Eight STM-1 cables from Okinawa off Japan and 4 STM-1 cables to Shanghai are acting as backup. Singapore Telecom, France Telecom SA and Pakistan Telecommunication Co. are among companies that own the Sea-Me-We3 cables linking Europe to Asia. Operators in the APCN2 cable network, which connects Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore include China Unicom Ltd., StarHub Ltd., Telekom Malaysia Bhd. and Telstra Corp.
The tremors were felt throughout Taiwan. The U.S. Geological Survey estimated the magnitude of the first quake to be 7.1, while Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau measured it at 6.7. It was followed eight minutes later by another quake, which was of 7.0 magnitude. The USGS said it could be an aftershock.
Another aftershock of 5.9 magnitude struck the country on Wednesday, according to the Central Weather Bureau.
Taiwan is quake-prone as it is part of the Pacific's Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
