By Brian Shilhavy

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In an article published today by PCMag (https://www.pcmag.com/articles/when-a-volcano-cut-this-countrys-fragile-internet-cable-life-snapped-back) about a new book out, they document that this very thing has already happened, in Togo in 2022 from a volcano, and it did NOT send the technology back to the 1980s, but to the 1880s with many people dying, so dependent are we on the Internet today.

From PCMag (https://www.pcmag.com/articles/when-a-volcano-cut-this-countrys-fragile-internet-cable-life-snapped-back):

A single underwater cable the size of a garden hose connected Tonga to the outside world—until a natural disaster struck. And it could happen to anyone.

It all started with an underwater volcanic eruption. Debris shot into the air, gathering force as it cascaded down the volcano’s flanks, plunged back into the ocean, and sliced Tonga’s only international internet cable in two places, like cutting out the middle of a submarine sandwich.

Now, Tonga was officially alone, with no physical or digital connection to the outside world and no way to call for help.

“I initially thought Tonga would be thrown back, to say, the 1980s, before it had broadband internet,” says Samanth Subramanian, who tells the full story in his new book, The Web Beneath the Waves, out this week.

“But it was more like they went back to the 1880s, around the time they first laid a telegraph line to Tonga, and they would only receive occasional visitors by ship.”

Thrown back in time, residents resorted to paper record-keeping for banking (no credit cards), traveled door-to-door to speak to each other, and grew their own food.

About the size of a garden hose, subsea cables snake along the seafloor, transporting 95% to 99% of internet traffic, depending on the estimate. They support nearly every aspect of our internet-connected world, making them increasingly critical.

“Over the past 10 years, the internet has grown so central to our lives,” Subramanian says. “If a cable were cut in 2002, it would be a lot easier to recover from it. But now, there are a lot of things in our lives that depend on it, and for the internet to be taken away would be a big disaster.”

The first few days after the eruption were the most challenging for Tonga’s roughly 100,000 residents. Without the ability to call or text anyone, they struggled to confirm the death toll.

“The first 48 hours were chaos,” Subramanian says, as residents walked door to door in the hot, humid weather to check on each other.

“The biggest anxiety was not whether the internet would work, it was whether everyone was alive. One government official had to choke back tears when telling me about this time.”

Credit cards no longer worked for purchasing food, and the cash on hand ran out, given the defunct ATMs. The government set up centralized food distribution sites on Tonga’s main street.

There, people would “buy” items on credit, with hand-written records of what they took. Those in rural areas continued to grow their own food, including those on Vava’u, an example of how those who were less reliant on central, modern systems were most resilient.

Read the full article (https://www.pcmag.com/articles/when-a-volcano-cut-this-countrys-fragile-internet-cable-life-snapped-back).

Via https://t.me/healthimpact/2771