Taiwan quake disrupts some communications services in S. Korea (& Asia; undersea cable cut)

Yonhap news ^ | 12/27/06

[TigerLikesRooster]

(LEAD) Taiwan quake disrupts some communications services in S. Korea

SEOUL, Dec. 27 (Yonhap) -- KT Corp., South Korea's largest fixed-line operator, said Wednesday their undersea fiber optic cables were disconnected in the southern seas off Taiwan due to a strong earthquake Tuesday night, disrupting communications services for local foreign companies.

KT said that an earthquake of 6.0 magnitude took place at 9:42 p.m. on Tuesday in the area 23 kilometers south of Taiwan, cutting cable lines under the sea, A total of 92 cable lines were found to have been damaged, the company said, adding that the number may rise.

Internet and international telephony services returned to almost normal through routing earlier on Wednesday, but communications cables, which foreign firms here in South Korea use, remained out of service, it said.

"We have to consult with other international companies to put the disconnected lines back to normal," a KT spokesman said.

"We are still in contact with them but we cannot say exactly when the service will be normalized since the fear of aftershocks remains," he added.

LG Dacom Corp., the nation's No. 2 fixed-line operator, also confirmed that its communications cable lines were damaged by the overnight earthquake.

According to the sources, more than 20 companies, including Citibank, HSBC, Reuters and Bloomberg, that were using communications lines between South Korea and Taiwan have been affected by the disconnection.

The Foreign Ministry is also affected by the communications disruption, a separate source said.

A Citibank official said its Internet banking service between its branches has been normalized but the service with other banks remains paralyzed.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[YCTHouston]

Great, where I'm gonna get tech support now?

[Jay Howard Smith]

Havent noticed anything abnormal here, south of Taegu as far as Internet goes.

[M. Espinola]

Is Japan next for the Big One?

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #4

Only if you are using some companies whose server is located in S.E. Asia.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #5

Based on historical trend, Japanese experts expect Japan is due for a big one, on the scale of Kanto Earthquake of 1920's. They even gave the name to this quake which has not happened, Tokai Earthquake.

We will see when it breaks out.

[M. Espinola]

Thanks for that update on the future powerful Tokai Earthquake.

I found this very interesting data on the Kanto Earthquake

Assessing the Seismic Vibrations of the
Great Kanto Earthquake

Information on the damage caused by the Great Kanto Earthquake have been collated and used to draw up a “map” of the damage and the distribution of seismic vibrations across the entire southern Kanto region. The results provide a clearer picture of the relationship between ground conditions and the distribution of seismic vibrations. This information may now be used in predictions of strong earth tremors.

Also:

Ratio of the total collapse of wooden houses due to the 1923 Kanto Earthquake.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #8

Thanks for the info.

[Diva]

My husband was kept up until 4 AM with this problem. Apparently it cut the lines of communication for one of Onstar's call centers and they are scrambling to find people here in the US to take up the slack for 2 to 3 weeks.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #10

I hope they paid him with generous overtime bonus.

Here in S. Korea, those with accounts at HSBC or Citibank apparently could not even access their ATM's. Their ATM servers are all located overseas.:-)

[Diva]

I hope they paid him with generous overtime bonus.

My husband works tech support and is salaried so he gets no extra no matter how long he works or what time he works. And yet he feels sorry for the call center managers. I think their work lives are always on, no family... nothing but what keeps the operation operating. I find it terribly sad but then I'm old fashioned and believe people should have lives outside of work.

Are you Korean?