Internet connection problems again today in Hong Kong. Even Google and some of their services have been erratic today and Google was the most reliable just after the earthquake hit off the cost of Taiwan and damaged 5 of the 6 undersea cables that Hong Kong relies on for most of it's US traffic.
Can you imagine the nightmares the repair teams are having at sea off the Taiwan coast. The sea bed cannot have settled down enough after the earthquake to have any reliable idea where the cable breakages are, were and where the replacements will go. Surely they could need to be re-routed from their current courses by many kilometres.
Can we even imagine the extent of the damage that might have been caused! There are going to be fragmented sections, lost lengths under piles of fallen rocks. The survey work to assess the extent of the problems will take time in itself, even with the reported five ships that they have sent out to sea.
How long will the repairs take and can we wait that long? It could take weeks to regain the Internet connection speeds Hong Kong is used to. It felt today like going back to the old 56K modem days where a patient approach to working online was required. But, nothing much can be done and we can only hope that Hong Kong broadband will soon become just that again.