2006 Hengchun earthquake - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The 2006 Hengchun earthquake occurred on Tuesday December 26, 2006 at 12:25 UTC (20:25 local time), with an epicenter

Epicenter

The epicenter or epicentre is the point on the Earth's surface that is directly above the hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or underground explosion originates...

off the southwest coast of Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

, approximately 22.8 km west southwest of Hengchun, Pingtung County

Pingtung County

Pingtung County is a county in Southern Taiwan. Pingtung County is officially administered as a county of the Republic of China . The oldest national park in Taiwan, Kenting National Park, was established in Pingtung County in 1984...

, Taiwan

Taiwan

, with an exact hypocenter

Hypocenter

The hypocenter refers to the site of an earthquake or a nuclear explosion...

21.9 km deep in the Luzon Strait

Luzon Strait

The Luzon Strait is the strait between the island country of Taiwan and Luzon island of the Philippines. The strait thereby connects the Philippine Sea to the South China Sea in the western Pacific Ocean....

(21.89°N 120.56°E), which connects the South China Sea

South China Sea

The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around...

with the Philippine Sea

Philippine Sea

The Philippine Sea is a marginal sea east and north of the Philippines occupying an estimated surface area of 2 million mi² on the western part of the North Pacific Ocean...

.

There are conflicting reports of the magnitude of the quake, with the Taiwan

Taiwan

's Central Weather Bureau

Central Weather Bureau

The Central Weather Bureau is the government meteorological research and forecasting institution of the Republic of China . In addition to meteorology, the Central Weather Bureau also makes astronomical observations, reports on sea conditions, and conducts research into seismology and provides...

marking it at 7.0 M_L

Richter magnitude scale

The expression Richter magnitude scale refers to a number of ways to assign a single number to quantify the energy contained in an earthquake....

, the United States Geological Survey

United States Geological Survey

The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...

estimating it at 7.1 M_w

Moment magnitude scale

The moment magnitude scale is used by seismologists to measure the size of earthquakes in terms of the energy released. The magnitude is based on the seismic moment of the earthquake, which is equal to the rigidity of the Earth multiplied by the average amount of slip on the fault and the size of...

, the Hong Kong Observatory

Hong Kong Observatory

Hong Kong Observatory is a department of the Hong Kong government. The Observatory forecasts weather and issues warnings on weather-related hazards...

, and the Japan Meteorological Agency

Japan Meteorological Agency

The or JMA, is the Japanese government's weather service. Charged with gathering and reporting weather data and forecasts in Japan, it is a semi-autonomous part of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport...

put the magnitude at 7.2 M_w

Moment magnitude scale

. The earthquake

Earthquake

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...

not only caused casualties and building damages, but also damaged several undersea cables

Submarine communications cable

A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the sea bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean....

, disrupting telecommunication services in various parts of Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

. Coincidentally, the earthquake occurred on the second anniversary of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake

The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake...

that devastated the coastal communities across Southeast

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

and South Asia

South Asia

South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...

and 3rd anniversary of the 2003 earthquake

2003 Bam earthquake

The 2003 Bam earthquake was a major earthquake that struck Bam and the surroundingKerman province of southeastern Iran at 1:56 AM UTC on Friday, December 26, 2003. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 6.6; estimated by the United...

that devastated the southern Iranian city of Bam.

Taiwan

News agencies aired reports in southern Taiwan

Taiwan

of collapsed houses, building fires, hotel guests being trapped in elevators, and telephone outages due to severed lines. Two people were reported killed and 42 injured. The earthquake

Earthquake

was felt all over Taiwan

Taiwan

, including the capital city of Taipei

Taipei

Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...

, which is 450 km north of Hengchun.

Power was knocked out to a reported 3,000 homes, but service was restored within a few hours. As of the following morning, cleanup was already underway.

Fifteen historical buildings, including a Grade 2 historical site, have been damaged in the historic center of Hengchun.

The Nuclear Power Plant 3 of Taiwan Power Company

Taiwan Power Company

The Taiwan Power Company is a state-owned electric power utility providing electric power to Taiwan and off-shore islands of Republic of China. In 1994 a measure which allowed independent power producers to provide up to 20 percent of Taiwan's electricity should have ended the monopoly.- See...

nearby was affected by the earthquake

Earthquake

. Because of the vigorous vibration, the alarm at Reactor

Nuclear reactor

A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are used for generating electricity and for the propulsion of ships. Usually heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid , which runs through turbines that power either ship's...

#2 was activated, forcing the operators to carry out SCRAM

Scram

A scram or SCRAM is an emergency shutdown of a nuclear reactor – though the term has been extended to cover shutdowns of other complex operations, such as server farms and even large model railroads...

immediately. However, Reactor

Nuclear reactor

#1 was not affected and remained operational. After the emergency shutdown of Reactor

Nuclear reactor

#2, engineers checked the facilities at the plant and no problems had been found.

Hong Kong and Macau

Residents in different districts

Districts of Hong Kong

The Districts of Hong Kong are the 18 political areas by which Hong Kong is geographically divided. Each district has a district council, which was formerly known as a district board. The districts were established in the early 1980s, when Hong Kong was under British rule...

of Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

felt the earthquake

Earthquake

. Fearing the collapse of their buildings, people in Sham Shui Po

Sham Shui Po District

Sham Shui Po District is one of 18 districts of Hong Kong. It covers the Shek Kip Mei, Sham Shui Po, Cheung Sha Wan, Lai Chi Kok and Yau Yat Chuen areas of New Kowloon, and Stonecutter's Island of Kowloon...

, Wong Tai Sin

Wong Tai Sin District

Wong Tai Sin District is one of the 18 districts of Hong Kong, and is the only landlocked district of the city. It is located in Kowloon and has a population of 444,630...

and Yuen Long

Yuen Long District

Yuen Long District , is one of the districts of Hong Kong located in the northwest of the New Territories. It had a population of 449,070 in 2001. The district has the youngest population of Hong Kong and the lowest income in the New Territories.-Geography:...

ran down to the streets. The Hong Kong Observatory

Hong Kong Observatory

Hong Kong Observatory is a department of the Hong Kong government. The Observatory forecasts weather and issues warnings on weather-related hazards...

estimated the tremor as Modified Mercalli intensity scale of III to IV. In Macau

Macau

Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...

, residents called the Office for Meteorological and Geophysical Services to ask whether earthquake

Earthquake

occurred in their city.

China

There were no reports of major damage in China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

although the quake could be felt there. In Xiamen

Xiamen

Xiamen , also known as Amoy , is a major city on the southeast coast of the People's Republic of China. It is administered as a sub-provincial city of Fujian province with an area of and population of 3.53 million...

, Fujian

Fujian

' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...

, people evacuated from their home and office to open spaces. The earthquake could also be felt in various cities in Guangdong

Guangdong

Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...

province and Fujian

Fujian

province (e.g. Guangzhou

Guangzhou

Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...

, Shenzhen

Shenzhen

Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...

, Shantou

Shantou

Shantou , historically known as Swatow or Suátao, is a prefecture-level city on the eastern coast of Guangdong province, People's Republic of China, with a total population of 5,391,028 as of 2010 and an administrative area of...

and Fuzhou

Fuzhou

Fuzhou is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian Province, People's Republic of China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute the Mindong linguistic and cultural area....

Aftershocks

Aftershock

An aftershock is a smaller earthquake that occurs after a previous large earthquake, in the same area of the main shock. If an aftershock is larger than the main shock, the aftershock is redesignated as the main shock and the original main shock is redesignated as a foreshock...

s greater than 5 Richter magnitude scale (or more correctly local magnitude M_L scale) are listed in the table below:

#	Time	Location	Magnitude	Depth
1	December 26, 2006 20:34 UTC+8 UTC+8 UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00. In ISO 8601 the associated time would be written as .With an estimated population of 1.53 billion living within the time zone, roughly 22.5% of the world population, it is the most populous time zone in world, as well as a possible...	21.97°N, 120.42°E, 11.6 km northwest of Fangliao	7.0 M_L Richter magnitude scale The expression Richter magnitude scale refers to a number of ways to assign a single number to quantify the energy contained in an earthquake....	50.2 km
2	December 26, 2006 20:40 UTC+8 UTC+8 UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00. In ISO 8601 the associated time would be written as .With an estimated population of 1.53 billion living within the time zone, roughly 22.5% of the world population, it is the most populous time zone in world, as well as a possible...	21.94°N, 120.4E, 35.4 km west of Hengchun	5.2 M_L Richter magnitude scale The expression Richter magnitude scale refers to a number of ways to assign a single number to quantify the energy contained in an earthquake....	25.0 km
3	December 26, 2006 22:53 UTC+8 UTC+8 UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00. In ISO 8601 the associated time would be written as .With an estimated population of 1.53 billion living within the time zone, roughly 22.5% of the world population, it is the most populous time zone in world, as well as a possible...	21.86°N, 120.39°E, 39.8 km southwest of Hengchun	5.2 M_L Richter magnitude scale The expression Richter magnitude scale refers to a number of ways to assign a single number to quantify the energy contained in an earthquake....	25.0 km
4	December 26, 2006 23:41 UTC+8 UTC+8 UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00. In ISO 8601 the associated time would be written as .With an estimated population of 1.53 billion living within the time zone, roughly 22.5% of the world population, it is the most populous time zone in world, as well as a possible...	22.09°N, 120.22°E, 31.6 km southwest of Little Liuchiu Island	5.5 M_L Richter magnitude scale The expression Richter magnitude scale refers to a number of ways to assign a single number to quantify the energy contained in an earthquake....	23.0 km
5	December 27, 2006 01:35 UTC+8 UTC+8 UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00. In ISO 8601 the associated time would be written as .With an estimated population of 1.53 billion living within the time zone, roughly 22.5% of the world population, it is the most populous time zone in world, as well as a possible...	21.78°N, 120.31°E, 50.4 km southwest of Hengchun	5.8 M_L Richter magnitude scale The expression Richter magnitude scale refers to a number of ways to assign a single number to quantify the energy contained in an earthquake....	32.6 km
6	December 27, 2006 10:30 UTC+8 UTC+8 UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00. In ISO 8601 the associated time would be written as .With an estimated population of 1.53 billion living within the time zone, roughly 22.5% of the world population, it is the most populous time zone in world, as well as a possible...	22.03°N, 120.33°E, 35.1 km south of Little Liuchiu Island	5.9 M_L Richter magnitude scale The expression Richter magnitude scale refers to a number of ways to assign a single number to quantify the energy contained in an earthquake....	28.0 km
7	December 28, 2006 17:38 UTC+8 UTC+8 UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00. In ISO 8601 the associated time would be written as .With an estimated population of 1.53 billion living within the time zone, roughly 22.5% of the world population, it is the most populous time zone in world, as well as a possible...	21.96°N, 120.56°E, 54.5 km southwest of Hengchun	5.3 M_L Richter magnitude scale The expression Richter magnitude scale refers to a number of ways to assign a single number to quantify the energy contained in an earthquake....	54.5 km

In addition, three others were reported that were of at least 4.7 intensity according to the Taiwan

Taiwan

's Central Weather Bureau

Central Weather Bureau

Taiwan

This earthquake marked the first time Taiwan

Taiwan

detected a tsunami

Tsunami

A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...

. Fortunately, the change in water level

Sea level

Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...

was only 25 cm, causing no damage.

Warning from agencies in other areas

Early reports issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency

Japan Meteorological Agency

indicated that the earthquake

Earthquake

triggered a 1 meter tsunami

Tsunami

A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...

, which was detected heading for the east coast of the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, with Basco

Basco, Batanes

Basco is a 5th class municipality in the Batanes Province, Philippines. It is the capital municipality of Batanes...

in its likely path. The Hong Kong Observatory

Hong Kong Observatory

Hong Kong Observatory is a department of the Hong Kong government. The Observatory forecasts weather and issues warnings on weather-related hazards...

also issued tsunami information bulletin, while indicating Hong Kong would likely be unaffected.

Disruption in communications

The earthquake

Earthquake

catastrophically disrupted Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

services in Asia

Asia

, affecting many Asian countries. Financial transactions, particularly in the foreign exchange market

Foreign exchange market

The foreign exchange market is a global, worldwide decentralized financial market for trading currencies. Financial centers around the world function as anchors of trading between a wide range of different types of buyers and sellers around the clock, with the exception of weekends...

were seriously affected as well. The aforementioned disruption was caused by damage to several submarine communications cable

Submarine communications cable

A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the sea bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean....

s.

China Telecom

China Telecom

China Telecom Corp. Ltd. is a Chinese state-owned telecommunication company. It is the largest fixed line service and 3rd largest mobile telecommunication provider in the People's Republic of China.-Sectors:...

reported that several international submarine communications cables had been broken, including:

CUCN
CUCN (cable system)
CUCN or China-US Cable Network is a submarine telecommunications cable linking several countries in the Asia-Pacific region.It has landing points in:#Shantou, Guangdong Province, China#Fangshan, Pingtung County, Taiwan Province, Taiwan...

and SMW3
SEA-ME-WE 3 (cable system)
SEA-ME-WE 3 or South-East Asia - Middle East - Western Europe 3 is an optical submarine telecommunications cable linking those regions and is the longest in the world, completed in late 2000. It is operated by India's Tata Communications and 92 other investors from the telecom industry...

, which was damaged at December 26, 2006 20:25 UTC+8
UTC+8
UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00. In ISO 8601 the associated time would be written as .With an estimated population of 1.53 billion living within the time zone, roughly 22.5% of the world population, it is the most populous time zone in world, as well as a possible...

approximately 9.7 km away from landing point in Fangshan, Pingtung County
Pingtung County
Pingtung County is a county in Southern Taiwan. Pingtung County is officially administered as a county of the Republic of China . The oldest national park in Taiwan, Kenting National Park, was established in Pingtung County in 1984...

, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

;
APCN 2
APCN 2 (cable system)
APCN 2 or Asia-Pacific Cable Network 2 is a submarine telecommunications cable linking several countries in the Asia-Pacific region.It has landing points in:*Chongming, Shanghai, China*Shantou, Guangdong Province, China...

S3, which was damaged at December 27, 2006 02:00 UTC+8
UTC+8
UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00. In ISO 8601 the associated time would be written as .With an estimated population of 1.53 billion living within the time zone, roughly 22.5% of the world population, it is the most populous time zone in world, as well as a possible...

approximately 2100 km away from landing point in Chongming
Chongming
Chongming County is the only county under the jurisdiction of Shanghai, China. The county consists of three main islands: Chongming Island ; Changxing Island; and Hengsha Island. These are low-lying alluvial islands in the mouth of the Yangtze River. With an area of , Chongming Island is listed as...

, Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

, China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

;
APCN 2
APCN 2 (cable system)
APCN 2 or Asia-Pacific Cable Network 2 is a submarine telecommunications cable linking several countries in the Asia-Pacific region.It has landing points in:*Chongming, Shanghai, China*Shantou, Guangdong Province, China...

S7, which was damaged at December 27, 2006 00:06 UTC+8
UTC+8
UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00. In ISO 8601 the associated time would be written as .With an estimated population of 1.53 billion living within the time zone, roughly 22.5% of the world population, it is the most populous time zone in world, as well as a possible...

approximately 904 km away from landing point in Tanshui, Taipei County
Taipei County
New Taipei City is the most populous city of Taiwan. The area includes a substantial stretch of Taiwan's northern coastline and surrounds the Taipei Basin...

(now New Taipei City), Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

;
FLAG Europe Asia
Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe
Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe is a 28,000-kilometer-long submarine communications cable containing optical fiber that connects the United Kingdom, Japan, and many places in between. The cable is operated by India's Flag Telecom, a fully owned subsidiary of Reliance Communications. The system...

, the segment between Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

and Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

was broken at December 27, 2006 04:56 UTC+8
UTC+8
UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00. In ISO 8601 the associated time would be written as .With an estimated population of 1.53 billion living within the time zone, roughly 22.5% of the world population, it is the most populous time zone in world, as well as a possible...

;
FLAG North Asia Loop
Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe
Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe is a 28,000-kilometer-long submarine communications cable containing optical fiber that connects the United Kingdom, Japan, and many places in between. The cable is operated by India's Flag Telecom, a fully owned subsidiary of Reliance Communications. The system...

, the segment between Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

and Pusan was broken at December 26, 2006 20:43 UTC+8
UTC+8
UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00. In ISO 8601 the associated time would be written as .With an estimated population of 1.53 billion living within the time zone, roughly 22.5% of the world population, it is the most populous time zone in world, as well as a possible...

,
severely damaging the communications within the Asia-Pacific region and with the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

.

Taiwan

Chunghwa Telecom

Chunghwa Telecom is the largest telecommunications company in Taiwan. It has its headquarters in Zhongzheng District, Taipei on the remains of the old Taipei Prison.- History :...

stated that an undersea cable

Submarine communications cable

A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the sea bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean....

off the southern coast had been damaged, interrupting communications (including IDD, telephone services and internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

services) of Taiwan

Taiwan

with China

People's Republic of China

, Hong Kong

Hong Kong

, Malaysia, Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

, and the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The international calling capacity was reduced to 40%.

China

IDD, telephone services and internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

services of China

People's Republic of China

with North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

was seriously affected by the earthquake

Earthquake

. However, China Telecom

China Telecom

announced on December 31 that IDD services had resumed to normal level. Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

services had resumed to 70% of normal level. As the undersea cables

Submarine communications cable

A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the sea bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean....

to North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

was seriously damaged by the earthquake

Earthquake

, the quality of internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

services depends on the progress of repairing work.

Hong Kong

Starting from the dawn of December 27, connection between foreign web sites/servers and Hong Kong

Hong Kong

internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

users kept failing. Wikipedia

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...

, search engines, online messengers like ICQ

ICQ

ICQ is an instant messaging computer program, which was first developed and popularized by the Israeli company Mirabilis, then bought by America Online, and since April 2010 owned by Mail.ru Group. The name ICQ is a homophone for the phrase "I seek you"...

and MSN Messenger, and portals like Google

Google

Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...

, Yahoo!

Yahoo!

Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...

and MSN

MSN

MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...

have been largely unavailable. Access to Chinese Wikipedia

Chinese Wikipedia

Chinese Wikipedia is the Chinese language edition of Wikipedia, run by the Wikimedia Foundation. Started in October 2002, Chinese Wikipedia had over 270,000 articles as of September 2009 and 383,391 articles as of November 7, 2011...

was cut by the earthquake too, as the servers are located in South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

. Websites located in mainland China, such as xinhuanet.com, the website of Xinhua News Agency

Xinhua News Agency

The Xinhua News Agency is the official press agency of the government of the People's Republic of China and the biggest center for collecting information and press conferences in the PRC. It is the largest news agency in the PRC, ahead of the China News Service...

, were also inaccessible.

On December 29, the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) http://www.ofta.gov.hk of Hong Kong Government announced that, IDD and roaming

Roaming

In wireless telecommunications, roaming is a general term referring to the extension of connectivity service in a location that is different from the home location where the service was registered. Roaming ensures that the wireless device is kept connected to the network, without losing the...

calls to Taiwan

Taiwan

have resumed to 50% of the normal level. IDD and roaming

Roaming

calls to other Asian countries (e.g. South Korea

South Korea

) are slower than normal condition. Calls from Hong Kong

Hong Kong

to overseas using calling cards

Telephone card

A telephone card, calling card or phone card for short, is a small plastic card, sized and shaped like a credit card, used to pay for telephone services. It is not necessary to have the physical card except with a stored-value system; knowledge of the access telephone number to dial and the PIN is...

have the same situation as the IDD and roaming

Roaming

calls.

However, calling from overseas to Hong Kong

Hong Kong

using calling cards

Telephone card

is still facing serious congestion.

For internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

services, as of December 29, connections to web sites in the U.S., South Korea

South Korea

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

and Taiwan

Taiwan

were still very slow. However, the situation was improving, sites which could not be accessed before (e.g. Wikipedia

Wikipedia

, Google

Google

, YouTube

YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

) were available at extremely slow speed. Among the internet service provider

Internet service provider

An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...

s in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

, PCCW

PCCW

PCCW Limited is the holding company of HKT Group Holdings Limited, Hong Kong's premier telecommunications provider in the Information and Communications Technologies industry. PCCW also holds a majority interest in Pacific Century Premium Developments Limited...

's Netvigator

Netvigator

Netvigator is the first and largest residential Internet service provider in Hong Kong, operated as a brand of PCCW. The company did offer iTV, an interactive movie television network that allowed users to watch movies on their TV screen by demand. The service ended in 2002...

was the slowest to resume enough bandwidth for their users. Therefore, as a temporary remedy, many internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

users in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

used proxy server

Proxy server

In computer networks, a proxy server is a server that acts as an intermediary for requests from clients seeking resources from other servers. A client connects to the proxy server, requesting some service, such as a file, connection, web page, or other resource available from a different server...

s in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, Thailand

Thailand

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

or even the UAE and Kuwait

Kuwait

The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...

to access foreign websites.

As of December 31, the situation of internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

connection had improved. Although sites that were previously unavailable became accessible, the connection speed was still slower than normal.

Philippines

The earthquake

Earthquake

has cut PLDT's capacity and connectivity by as much as 40 percent The two largest Philippine mobile communications companies Smart Communications

Smart Communications

Smart Communications is a wholly owned mobile phone and Internet service subsidiary of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company .On June 30, 2010 the company reported that it had over 45 million cellular subscribers.-Brands:...

and Globe Telecom

Globe Telecom

Globe Telecom , commonly known as Globe, is a telecommunications company in the Philippines. Globe provides mobile, fixed line, and broadband Internet services.- History :In 1928, Congress passed Act No...

had also reported some international connectivity problems at that time. The rest (60%) of telephone and Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

capacity was operational as carriers rerouted through other links to North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

, Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

, Malaysia and Singapore

Singapore

. Call centers and other outsourced business processes

Business process outsourcing in the Philippines

Business process outsourcing or BPO is an emerging industry in the Philippines.-Overview:The business process outsourcing industry in the Philippines has grown 46% annually since 2006. This boom is led by demand for offshore call centers...

that have become a major industry in the Philippines

Philippines

feared that the cable

Submarine communications cable

A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the sea bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean....

damage might hamper their operations dramatically; only two centers were totally shut down due to the problems.

United States

In the United States, several networks and bloggers have experienced a noticeable reduction of the volume of spam

E-mail spam

Email spam, also known as junk email or unsolicited bulk email , is a subset of spam that involves nearly identical messages sent to numerous recipients by email. Definitions of spam usually include the aspects that email is unsolicited and sent in bulk. One subset of UBE is UCE...

received after the earthquake. A blogger noted that "one large network in North America saw their mail from Korea drop by 90% and from China by 99%."

Other areas

Korea Telecom

KT Corporation is a South Korean integrated wired/wireless telecommunication service provider. KT has an information & communications business, and has the largest portion of the South Korean local telephone and high-speed Internet business...

, Malaysia's Telekom Malaysia

Telekom Malaysia

Telekom Malaysia Berhad , DBA TM, is the largest integrated solutions provider in Malaysia, and one of Asia's leading communications companies, with a market capitalisation of RM13.9 billion and a workforce of 26,629 employees. Established as the Telecommunications Department of Malaya in 1946, it...

and Jaring

Jaring

JARING is a Malaysian internet service provider based in Technology Park Malaysia . It was the first internet service provider in the country and was formerly owned by MIMOS Berhad....

, as well as the Communications Authority of Thailand

Thailand Ministry of Information and Communication Technology

The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology of Thailand , was established on the 3 October 2002. The Ministry is headed by a Minister of State, currently Anudith Nakornthap of the Pheu Thai Party.-Public Companies:* TOT Public Company Limited...

, Singapore

Singapore

's StarHub

StarHub

StarHub Limited is a full-fledged telecommunications company providing a full range of services over mobile, internet and fixed platforms in Singapore...

and SingTel and Brunei

Brunei

Brunei , officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace , is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia...

's Telbru have also reported disruption to most Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

services. In Singapore

Singapore

, search engine

Search engine

A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...

s and portals like Google

Google

, Yahoo!

Yahoo!

, MSN

MSN

and most websites have been virtually unreachable. In Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, Google is not accessible, but Yahoo! and Wikipedia

Wikipedia

can still be used, though the network connection speed is very slow. Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

n Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

services have likewise been affected. In Malaysia, there were problems with popular Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

services such as Gmail

Gmail

Gmail is a free, advertising-supported email service provided by Google. Users may access Gmail as secure webmail, as well via POP3 or IMAP protocols. Gmail was launched as an invitation-only beta release on April 1, 2004 and it became available to the general public on February 7, 2007, though...

and Yahoo! News

Yahoo! News

Yahoo! News is an Internet-based news aggregator provided by Yahoo!. It features Top Stories, U.S. National, World, Business, Entertainment, Science, Health, Weather, Most Popular, News Photos, Op/Ed, and Local news....

, however the situation is reported to be improving on 29 December.

Repairing work

According to the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) of Hong Kong Government, among the five cable ships deployed, two arrived at the scene. However, one of the two ships experienced a major fault on December 30 afternoon and was under urgent repair in Kaohsiung

Kaohsiung

Kaohsiung is a city located in southwestern Taiwan, facing the Taiwan Strait on the west. Kaohsiung, officially named Kaohsiung City, is divided into thirty-eight districts. The city is one of five special municipalities of the Republic of China...

, Taiwan

Taiwan

. The repair for the ship was estimated to take about a week. Therefore the repair for the cables had to be postponed. It is estimated that the first part of the repair of one of the submarine cables would be completed around January 16, 2007. For the other damaged cables, survey and assessment were being arranged and repair of most of the cables is expected to be completed progressively by the end of January 2007.

IDD Services and disrupted internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

service in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

has been greatly restored pending the repairs and rerouted traffic.

Before the completion of the cable works, however, some countries have already have found alternative methods to restore the internet access. For example, by January 3, 2007, Singapore's SingTel has already fully restored the internet access provided by them. SingNet, SingTel's subsidiary, which does ISP

Internet service provider

services, has recently released an announcement on its homepage, mentioning that "internet access to services such as gaming and video downloading may experience some delays". Whether or not this is related to the earthquake is unknown, albeit likely.

According to China Daily
China Daily
The China Daily is an English language daily newspaper published in the People's Republic of China.- Overview :China Daily was established in June 1981 and has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in the country...

(January 16) the repairwork might be completed end of January, yet heavy winds in the Bashi Channel

Bashi Channel

The Bashi Channel is a strait between the Y'Ami Island of the Philippines and Orchid Island of Taiwan. It is characterized by windy storms during the rainy period, June to December. It is a part of the Pacific Ocean....

have stirred up 10-12 meter waves which makes it impossible to resume work.

External links

US Geological Survey (USGS) earthquake report
Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau earthquake report
Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan The CWB
Central Weather Bureau
The Central Weather Bureau is the government meteorological research and forecasting institution of the Republic of China . In addition to meteorology, the Central Weather Bureau also makes astronomical observations, reports on sea conditions, and conducts research into seismology and provides...

maintains an up-to-date record of earthquakes and their aftershocks.
Reuters article
BBC NEWS article
CNN article
International Herald Tribune article
Singapore's Channel NewsAsia report on 28 December 2006

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Taiwan

Hong Kong and Macau

China

Aftershocks

Taiwan

Warning from agencies in other areas

Disruption in communications

Taiwan

China

Hong Kong

Philippines

United States

Other areas

Repairing work

See also

External links