Thailand, with a branch down to Penang, Malaysia; overland across Thailand to Songkhla; up through the
South China Sea to Lan Tao Island in Hong Kong; up the coast of China to a branch in the East China
Sea where one fork goes to Shanghai and the other to Koje-do Island in Korea, and finally to two separate
landings in Japan - Ninomiya and Miura, which are owned by rival carriers. Anchors are a perennial
problem that gets much worse during typhoons, because an anchor that has dropped well away from a
cable may be dragged across it as the ship is pushed around by the wind. Formerly, cable was plowed
into the bottom in water shallower than 1,000 meters, which kept it away from the trawlers. Because of
recent changes in fishing practices, the figure has been boosted to 2,000 meters.
We have spoken since the early days of ZetaTalk about the stretch zones of the world, where plates are pulling apart.
The Red Sea is one of these zones, as is the African Rift, pulling apart as Africa rolls into the Indian Ocean. The Suez
Canal is thus pulled eastward, creating tension on any cables laid under the Mediterranean from France or Italy into
Egypt. These cables are laid with slack, and pressed into the seabed where expected to be anywhere near where ships
anchor. For a single cable to be damaged potentially by a ship anchor might fly as an excuse, but two cables,
simultaneously? The point of fault can be estimated by the cable operators by a type of ping to the point of injury.
Both the damaged cables reached shore at Alexandria, with the injury estimated to have occurred 5.2 miles off the
coast from Alexandria.
What kind of tension were these cables under at this point? One end was secured at the point of landfall. Where the
cable under the Mediterranean was free, it had drag, particularly as it approached shore as it would be buried in the
seabed at this point, to avoid injury by ships' anchors. A cable under tension in this manner due to the plate
separating/stretching would rise up, and be a perfect target for an anchor. The ships whose anchors tore the cables were
not illegally anchored at the distance from shore where the injury occurred. Instead the cables were unexpectedly
above the floor of the seabed at that point, and vulnerable to being hooked by anchors.
Will more such catastrophes occur in stretch zones? Broken communications are the least of mankind's worry there.
Chasms will open up. Roads will tear and bridges will drop. Buildings will find their infrastructure shifting beneath
them, and will either drop into their foundations or slip sideways into a lean. Gas and water mains will continue to
shatter, with fires and explosions caused by gas leaks running rampant through neighborhoods or business districts.
The stretch has only begun, and will accelerate as the plates begin to move more aggressively.
http://www.zetatalk2.com/index/zeta432.htm[2/5/2012 9:57:32 AM]
ZetaTalk: Alexandria Cables
Damaged Cables Cut Internet in Mideast
January 30, 2008
It was not clear what caused the damage to the cable. There has been speculation by others that an
illegally or improperly anchored ship caused the problem. This was the first time two undersea
cables near each other were cut at the same time.
Internet Disrupted in Egypt and India
January 30, 2008
http://www.reuters.com/
The cable in question goes between France and Egypt.
Internet Outages Seen Across Middle East
January 30, 2008
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22914651/
DU told The Associated Press that the reason for the outage was a fault on a submarine cable
located between Alexandria, Egypt, and Palermo, Italy.
Severed Cables Disrupt Internet
January 31, 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7218008.stm
FLAG Telecoms operate the 17,400 mile long submarine communications cable. SEA-ME-WE 4 is a
submarine cable system linking South East Asia to Europe via the Indian subcontinent and the
Middle East. Neither of the cable operators have confirmed the cause or location of the outage but
some reports suggest it was caused by a ship's anchor near the port of Alexandria in Egypt.
Mediterranean Cables Cut, Disrupting Communications
Jan. 30, 2008
http://www.bloomberg.com/
Six ships were diverted from Alexandria port and one may have severed the cables with an anchor,
said a spokesman for Flag Telecom Group Ltd., which operates one of the cables. The incident took
place 8.3 kilometers (5.2 miles) from Alexandria beach in northern Egypt.
http://www.zetatalk2.com/index/zeta432.htm[2/5/2012 9:57:32 AM]
ZetaTalk: Dubai Cables
Mail this Pageto a Friend.
ZetaTalk: Dubai Cables
written February 2, 2008
Once again an undersea internet cable is torn near where it makes landfall. This incident is in Dubai, on the other side
of the Arabian Plate from Alexandria. What is similar in both of these incidents? Both are offshore from landfall sites,
where the cable rises out of the seabed to connect at a spot where it is fixed. Such a spot creates tension if the cable is
being stretched, causing the cable to rise up out of the seabed and reducing slack. This causes the tense cable to be
vulnerable to ships' anchors. The Flag Falcon was a new cable, laid since early 2005 and thus plowed into the seabed
properly and recently to avoid ships' anchors in shallow water. If the breach offshore from Alexandria was due to the
stretch zone in the Mediterranean caused by the African continent rolling eastward and dropping into the Indian Ocean,
what caused this stretch offshore from Dubai?
After leaving Alexandria, the cables cross the Suez Canal to land on the east of the canal, thence down the Red Sea to
where it empties into the Indian Ocean, thence along the bottom of the "boot" of the Arabian peninsula and up around
the "toe" formed by Oman to landfall in Dubai. As we have stated, the Arabian plate will rotate as this region of the
world is pulled apart. As though the "boot" were walking, it will move from where the "heel" appears to be landing to
where the "boot" is rolling to be positioned on its "toe". Where this does not put tension along a cable laid around the
edges of the "boot", it puts tension on the cable from another end - the landfall in India and Pakistan. The "heel" of the
boot has been pulled away from India and Pakistan. Overall, the stretch zones around the Arabian Plate are pulling
open, thus there is less slack on any cables laid there.
Internet Provider in UAE Confirms Undersea Cable Cut Between Dubai, Oman, Cause Unknown