Earthquakes in Taiwan disrupt regional telecommunications
27/12/2006 17:07
The earthquakes that rocked Taiwan yesterday, killing two people and
wounding at least 42, have severely disrupted telecommunications in the Taiwan,
the Chinese mainland and other parts of Asia.
Internet access has slowed and
international websites, including Yahoo and MSN, are inaccessible.
China
Telecom, one of the mainland's main telecommunication and broadband service
providers, said that at least six of its cables in the sea area 15 kilometers
south of Taiwan had been cut, affecting telecommunications between the mainland
and Taiwan, US and Europe.
China Telecom said it was working to repair the
cables but the situation may last for "quite a while".
PCCW, Hong Kong's main
fixed-line telecom provider, said several undersea cables it partly owned had
been damaged, disrupting the telecommunication and data services in Taiwan,
Korea, Japan and the United States. PCCW believes the problems will last several
days.
"Data transfer is down by half," a spokeswoman with PCCW said.
Local
earthquake experts said there would be aftershocks measuring above 5 on the
Richter Scale over the coming week.
The national earthquake observation
network reported that two earthquakes - the first measuring 7.2 on the Richter
scale at 8:26 p.m. and the second measuring 6.7 at 8:34 p.m. - hit the South
China Sea on Tuesday.
The epicenter was about 350 kilometers from the
mainland and 15 kilometers from Taiwan. Local media said "the power of the
earthquakes equaled the explosion of six atomic bombs 22 kilometers
underground".
Some 121 aftershocks were reported in Pingtung County of
Taiwan, four of which measured above 5 on the Richter scale. Two people in
Pingtung were killed and 42 were wounded. The quakes also caused three
residential buildings to collapse, 12 fires and cut telephone lines between
Kaohsiung and Pingtung, according to latest statistics.
Strong tremors were
felt on the Chinese mainland but no damage or casualties have been
reported.
Li Weiyi, spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State
Council on Wednesday conveyed his condolences to the victims of the
earthquakes.
The Red Cross Society of China said it was ready to provide any
kind of aid to Taiwan.
Xinhua
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