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This is a subc internet cable. Around a
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million miles of these cables run across
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the oceans in order to make this big
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machine called the internet work. So
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what happens when the cables snap? In
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March, countries along the coast of West
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Africa lost internet. Hospitals couldn't
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locate patients records. Employers
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couldn't pay uh their employees. There
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were rumors of a coup. There were rumors
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that sabotage had taken place and people
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had to go looking for answers. These
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cables run past Ivory Coast and they
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also land there. The cables go through a
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canyon that begins near the coastline
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and then plunges seawward and gets
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deeper and deeper. The canyon is called
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Truson, which means the bottomless hole.
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On March 14th, an avalanche gets set
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loose in the bottomless hole. And as
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it's coming down that canyon, one by
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one, the cables snap. There are so many
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ways that the internet can physically
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break. You can have an earthquake. You
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can have anchors that pass by and pick
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these cables up and tear them in pieces.
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Fishing trwers can do it. And you can
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even have sabotage. Fixing these cables
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is really an incredible operation. I
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mean, you have to have a fleet of repair
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ships sitting by to find them and fix
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it. Sometimes they'll send a remotely
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operated vehicle with camera down to the
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bottom of the sea. Once they find the
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break in the cable, they have to bring
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that cable back up to the surface, then
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delicately fuse them back together, drop
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it back down into the ocean and make
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sure that it's still carrying signals.
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Any incident like this is a wakeup call
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for the countries, the organizations,
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the companies, and the people involved.
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The solution that you hear most often is
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build more cables because you want to
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have a backup if one cable breaks. The
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problem with that is you'll have a
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number of cables in the same spot or
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near the same spot under the sea. So if
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you have a disturbance, you're often
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going to cut multiple cables. The subc
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cables are so important, but at the same
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time, they're so vulnerable. When you
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pick up your phone and you ask for
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information, I hope people realize
