Cables in the Luzon Strait break in sequence over nine hours
The sediment flows released by the doublet cut the submarine cables crossing the Luzon Strait, and they cut them one after another rather than at once — the published analyses describe an initial group of breaks stepping down the canyon system over roughly nine hours, with the timing of each break consistent with flow velocities of several metres per second. Counts differ by what is being counted: retrieved sources variously give eight or nine cable systems, eleven cables across the Kaoping canyon and Manila Trench, thirteen sequential breaks and twenty-two breaks in total. The disagreement is real and is a counting-definition problem, not an error, and this pack states the range rather than choosing.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- The Luzon Strait · maritime region · Western Pacific
- The turbidity current · natural phenomenon · not located
- The submarine fibre-optic cable · technology · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent. This is the standing of the weakest source, not an average.
Insights into Submarine Geohazards from Breaks in Subsea Telecommunication Cables
Supports the account of the 2006 Luzon Strait cable failures as a sequential process driven by earthquake-triggered sediment density flows running down submarine canyons into the Manila Trench, with flow speeds of several metres per second inferred from break timings. V55 verification basis: NOT read; retrieved in summary only. Published break counts for the 2006 event differ between analyses — eight, nine, eleven, thirteen and twenty-two all appear — and this pack states the range rather than adopting one.
Oceanography (The Oceanography Society) · Partly verified
Insights into Submarine Geohazards from Breaks in Subsea Telecommunication Cables, Oceanography, tos.org; with the associated literature on the 2006 Pingtung earthquake doublet and the resulting sediment density flows
Submarine cables cut after the Taiwan earthquake of December 2006
Supports the reported operator impacts — Chunghwa Telecom's complete loss of capacity to Hong Kong and South-East Asia and about 74 per cent to mainland China, PCCW's loss of more than half its data capacity, the mainland carriers' loss of more than 90 per cent of traffic to the United States and Europe — and the deployment of eleven cable ships with degraded service for about seven weeks. V55 verification basis: retrieved in summary, not opened. This is trade reporting of operator statements made during an incident, not audited measurement, and the percentages are the operators' own.
submarinenetworks.com · Partly verified
submarinenetworks.com record of the December 2006 Taiwan earthquake cable cuts, the operator capacity statements and the repair operation
Recorded on The Luzon Strait
- The Grand Banks earthquake breaks cables in sequence
- The Hengchun earthquake doublet off southern Taiwan
- Cables in the Luzon Strait break in sequence over nine hours
- East Asian connectivity degrades for weeks
- Four cables fail off Côte d'Ivoire and thirteen countries lose connectivity
- Cables and a power link are damaged in the Baltic Sea
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- Cables and a power link are damaged in the Baltic Sea · 2024-11-17 – 2024-12-25
- Four cables fail off Côte d'Ivoire and thirteen countries lose connectivity · 2024-03-14
- The Hengchun earthquake doublet off southern Taiwan · 2006-12-26 12:26 UTC
- East Asian connectivity degrades for weeks · 2006-12-26 – 2007-02
- The Grand Banks earthquake breaks cables in sequence · 1929-11-18