Voice and data communication across the Asia-Pacific region were disrupted by last week's earthquake off the southern coast of Taiwan, which broke undersea telephone links connecting several Asian countries to each other and to the US. Countries affected by the quake, which measured 6.7 on the Richter scale, included Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan. International fixed line, data and mobile connections were hit and telephone and internet services are expected to remain unstable for a short time in the wake of the seismic activity. Repairs to affected undersea cables are expected to be completed by the middle of January.