The Internet in Disasters

Starosielski mentions disruptions following natural disasters including the 2011 Tohuku earthquake. I reflected on my experiences and the role infrastructure. Seconds before the earthquake hit my town, a few of the cell phones beeped a strange sound. I was confused as all the teachers have their phone on silent at work. Initially I thought it was my phone and that I forgot to turn off my alarm. I realized that is was an earthquake warning. Prior to reading Nicole Starosielski’s study, undersea cable networks were akin to outer space in my imagination since I believed the narratives of the ocean as disruptive. However, in reflecting on the use of the Internet on my phone to contact my family, and the days following the earthquake when trying to gather information about leaving, my Internet worked with no problems. While the tsunami damaged the undersea cables, alternative undersea cables were utilized as back up (Ichiguchi 2011). In California, local and political permits and aesthetics may outweigh the cable company demands. In Oahu’s west side the military displaced residents in the mountains. Alternatively in Philippines and Australia, less local controls offer cable construction more leeway.  When plastic polythene replaced gutta-percha which in turn made me think about colonization in Southeast Asia and racialized labor. In sketching the significance of undersea cables, Starosielski highlights the various ecologies that form the undersea network.

References

Ichiguchi, Tsuneo (2011). “Robust and Usable Media for Communication in a Disaster” Science & Technology Trends Quarterly Review October 2011.