A strong earthquake off Taiwan's southern coast damaged undersea cables, disrupting phone and Internet service Wednesday in much of Taiwan, China and Japan. Repairing the cables could take three weeks, but the situation will improve daily, said Lin Jen-hung, vice general manager of Chunghwa Telecom Co., Taiwan's largest phone company. The earthquake jolted Taiwan late Tuesday, prompting a tsunami alert on the second anniversary of the Dec. 26, 2004, waves and quake that killed 230,000 in south Asia. No large waves materialized but two people were killed when their home collapsed, the Associated Press reported.
