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The 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit the southern coast has caused major disruptions to the communication lines within Asia. Internet has been slow, phone lines are down, etc, etc… Yes, lives have all come to a screeching halt due to the inability to surf the net for mindless videos on YouTube or hold idle chit chat via IM.

ISP hotlines have been literally hot and ringing off the hooks with the sudden slowdown and disruption of service. There’s been news articles sensationalising this bad bad crisis. One of many to have struck the world in this decade alone. And on the 2nd anniversary of the tragic boxing day earthquake/tsunami which claimed some 250000 lives, no less.

The good news is that 80% of services have been restored. The bad news is that the slow down will continue until the major links are repaired. Ships are scheduled to arrive for the repair work on 2 January 2006 and would take at least five days to partially repair the damage to the two undersea cables.

Since I was away when this happened, I wasn’t really aware of the disruption. It wasn’t until I got home that I read/heard about it. I’ve been doing some catching up on the world news since then. The news has been oversensationalised by the media. While all this is well and good, I have to ask the question. What of the lives of those in the immediate area of the quake. How are their lives affected? Were there any deaths and property damage on the island itself? What of the little people?

I read in passing that two members of one family were killed in Hengchun and 42 others were injured. The National Fire Agency reported three collapsed homes and 12 fires. Not sensational enough to make the headlines, I suppose. What is that compared to the estimated 11 million Internet users in Malaysia alone (by golly, that’s half the population!) and the kagillion others across the world.

Too bad for them because they were too small a statistic to be thought of or cared about. Sidelined because their tragedy is small compared to the bigger picture. Life is always about the big picture, isn’t it? But what ever happened to the little people?

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