KARACHI, May 22: The earthquake that occurred in Northern Algeria on Thursday morning partly disturbed voice and data traffic which was afterwards restored by the staff of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company.

A press release issued here on Thursday says that the earthquake damaged submarine cables between Alexandria and Sesembra. “The cables damaged were SMWE 2, SEMEWE 3, Flag and Clumbus 2, due to which disturbance occurred in voice and data traffic. The PTCL staff, soon after the earthquake, took immediate remedial measures and restored the voice traffic completely. Total circuits operative on SMEWE 2 were 7,000 out of which 869 circuits are yet to be rectified. However, traffic on the second and third choice is being routed in a normal way. The circuits would be rectified within the shortest possible time.”