Tremors from Tuesday's earthquake near the southern tip of Taiwan damaged undersea cables, disrupting internet and telephone communications across Southeast Asia.
Telecommunications companies said the 6.7-magnitude earthquake forced them to activate backup systems after tens of millions of internet and telephone users were cut off from service Wednesday.
Crews in Pingtung County, about 350 kilometres southwest of Taipei, clear rubble from a collapsed building after the earthquake struck Wednesday.
(David Lee/Asssociated Press)
The earthquake claimed the lives of two Taiwanese residents and injured more than 40 people, and the communications breakdown also hit the island hard, as Taiwan is Asia's fifth-largest economy.
Initial tremors on Tuesday set off alerts about a possible tsunami on the second anniversary of the waves that killed about 230,000 people in Southeast Asia, but the region was spared further disaster.
Chunghwa Telecom Co., Taiwan's largest phone company, said the tremors damaged two underwater cables off the Taiwanese coast, which link communications between several Asian countries.
As a result, the company lost at least half of its telephone capacity, meaning connections have been cut off to China, Japan and other parts of Southeast Asia.
