While Saipan was offline

Saipan was cut off from the outside world, but the world (or portions of it) talked about Saipan for days.

And some accounts (delivered to the outside world at the time) of what was happening or what may have happened on Saipan were a bit ripe for an apocalypse movie about a tiny U.S. island in the Western Pacific. (Yes, too much Hollywood and Netflix is bad for you, sometimes).

Saipan experienced a technology blackout for several hours beginning in the early morning hours of July 8 but the situation was upgraded to “limited connectivity” hours later—all as a result of a cut in the only undersea cable linking the CNMI to the outside world.

Within hours, Guam media such as Pacific Daily News, KUAM News, and Pacific News Center reported the massive disruption in phone, Internet, banking, and other communications services on Saipan. 

People outside Saipan were getting the news from sources outside the CNMI, which were also posted and re-posted several times on Facebook.

For those on Saipan, the cut in IT&E’s undersea cable meant being unable to make and receive phone calls, being unable to send and receive text messages, being unable to send or receive emails, being unable to read online news or do online searches, being unable to post on or access Facebook, and not knowing what’s happening outside Saipan.

That also meant not being able to use credit cards to buy the most basic of needs such as food and water, and not being able to withdraw cash from ATMs. Flights to and from Saipan were cancelled or delayed. 

Typhoon Nangka was threatening the CNMI at the time and, a day later, pummeled Alamagan and two other northern islands but the limited to nonexistent connectivity made it harder to monitor the impacts.

For the Guam media, updates about the Saipan cable cut—from the partial IT&E service restoration to impacts on the economy and island security, a declaration of a state of emergency in the CNMI, and arrival of the repair ship late last week—was a staple for days and weeks.

Radio New Zealand also came up with its series of stories: “Life in CNMI hamstrung by communications blackout.” “Communications outage devastates CNMI businesses.” “Weeks of limited services ahead for CNMI.” “State of emergency declared in CNMI.”

And when the Associated Press got hold of it, the Saipan undersea cable cut story reached a broader national and international audience. More so when the AP story got picked up by, say, Yahoo News (“Pacific islands cable breaks, cutting off phones, Internet”).

Some world technology news and websites were also all of a sudden talking about Saipan and in the process gave their audience a lesson in world geography and a little bit about the United States’ island territories. 

Ars Technica wrote, “Broken cable reportedly disconnected U.S. island territory from Internet: Northern Mariana Islands relies on a single undersea fiber cable, which broke.” 

Tech Times said pretty much the same thing with its piece, “Break in lone undersea cable cuts Northern Mariana Islands off from Internet.” And so did iTech Post when it released, “New cable cut shuts down banking and phones.”

There’s also Military Technologies, which posted, “Undersea cable break disrupts life in Northern Mariana Islands.” The Economic Times wrote, “Pacific islands cable breaks, cutting off phones, Internet.” TeleGeography: Authoritative Telecom Data was also on the Saipan issue in its latest “guide to the week’s submarine and terrestrial developments.”

Meanwhile, on the beautiful tropical island of Saipan itself, life went on. 

Despite the inconveniences of not having mobile phone services and Internet connections, people saw silver linings. Saipan’s magnificent waters, vast blue skies, lush greenery and overall natural beauty became more engaging once again. Pathways and beach parks got busier than usual. 

Some people rediscovered the joy of face-to-face communication, or got reacquainted with landlines and dial-ups. Friends and families talked more on the dining table instead of getting busy with their phones. Books gathering dust on shelves comforted their owners. Gardening and other household chores put off for days or weeks were done. Cash on hand became better than plastic cards.

Some said it’s unlikely that the only undersea cable linking the CNMI to the rest of the world was a work of terrorism or was cut intentionally, but the incident exposed once again the vulnerability of the CNMI’s communication infrastructure.

Saipan has participated in a lot of U.S.-funded terrorism-related emergency preparedness training (for example, how to respond to a biological weapon of mass destruction released on the island or when a person or persons start taking in hostages).  But nothing prepared Saipan for a technology outage caused by well, nature; at least the initial stories were pointing to weather disturbance that caused the undersea cable to snap. 

For all it’s worth, people learned their lessons and the CNMI government has one other thing to plan for in the long-term. 

And shortly before the undersea cable cut, the CNMI saw the seeming end to the story of former governor Benigno R. Fitial’s rise and fall. Fitial, who became not only the first CNMI governor to be impeached but also the first one to be convicted for crimes committed while in office, was sentenced to serve one year in prison but that sentence was commuted shortly before he could spend a day in jail. 

Luckily for Fitial and Gov. Eloy S. Inos, the backlash over the unprecedented sentence commutation on July 5 was short-lived when public attention shifted to Saipan’s technology outage, which has the potential to bring down the entire CNMI economy in just a matter of days had it not been promptly addressed by IT&E.

Nevertheless, both events are already in the running for being on the list of the “biggest stories for 2015.”