Far East offline as earthquake cuts internet

TENS of millions of people across Asia have been left in technological limbo after an undersea earthquake severed cables carrying much of the region's internet traffic.

Measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale, the earthquake shook southern Taiwan as well as neighbouring China and the Philippines, killing two Taiwanese and triggering fears of a tsunami.

No tsunami came, but the huge seismic movement on Tuesday seriously damaged two vital cables. The result has been a virtual communications blackout in Taiwan and Hong Kong, with serious disruptions across China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and even Australia.

In Hong Kong, one of the world's most hi-tech cities, internet data capacity was reportedly cut by 50 per cent. News and stockmarket information was affected, with traders reporting problems tracking share prices.

Most international internet data and voice calls travel as pulses of light through hundreds of undersea fibre optic cables criss-crossing the globe.

"Cables break all over the place," said Markus Buchhorn, an information technology expert at Australia National University. But he said it became a problem if, as in the Taiwan case, several snapped at once and there were no backup lines.

Stock traders, travellers and online video gamers were among those affected.

"I haven't experienced anything like this before," said Francis Lun, the general manager at Fulbright Securities in Hong Kong. "We've become too dependent on these optic fibres. A few of them get damaged, and everything collapses."

Long lines formed at Hong Kong's airport, where check-in computers for Taiwan's China Airlines were out of action.

Much of the traffic has now been rerouted, but employees at China's biggest phone company, China Telecom Corporation, said internet and phone connections were still slow.

In Seoul, banks reported a slowdown in foreign exchange trading, while in worst-affected Taiwan, telecoms companies rushed to set up satellite links. Taiwan's biggest phone company, Chunghwa Telecoms, reported on Thursday afternoon that it had restored 95 per cent of internet and 80 per cent of phone services to the island.

In China, where some internet sites are already blocked by the government, services for ordinary users were delayed as increased demand was placed on the few remaining cables connecting China to the United States.

Repairs could take weeks to complete and have exposed the vulnerability of Asia's communication network.