CHINA:Obtaining crucial financial information or even writing a simple e-mail was no easy task in Asia yesterday after telecoms cables were damaged by earthquakes that hit Taiwan this week, exposing the frailties of the lines laid deep underwater which have formed the arteries of the region's economic growth in recent years.
From South Korea to south Australia, universities, banks and stockbrokers continued to complain of major problems with connectivity more than 48 hours after the earthquake.
Telephone traffic was slowly getting back to normal in some parts of Asia but many operators in the north of the continent were still struggling to get up to full speed after what was one of the worst telecommunications disruptions to hit Asia.
Indeed, this report from Beijing was written on a hand-held computer as most internet access in China was still down.
State telecoms operator CNC said it was working on fixing the problem, but there were fears it could take three weeks before things were back to normal.
Undersea fibre-optic cables make up more than 95 per cent of all international telecommunications thanks to their strength, capacity and connection quality, but they have long been seen as a potential weak link in the information superhighway.
The cables are laid on the ocean floor and are prone to damage by driftnet fishing, anchors and attacks by sharks lured by the electromagnetic pulse given off by the wiring.
Many are laid in areas of seismic activity, but there is little alternative to them based on current technology, except for satellite. However, this can be expensive and does not allow the same capacity or quality of transmission.
Plans to lay new cables on less earthquake-sensitive paths were stymied by the bursting of the internet investment bubble in 2001.
Offering one potential solution for the future, Chinese scientists said they had come up with an earthquake prediction system which relies on monitoring the behaviour of snakes.