a couple of weeks ago a fiber optic cable to the San Juans failed. It took out land lines, cell. internet, cable tv, 911 service. Businesses in Friday Harbor could not run credit cards. For over a week ham radio operators handled most of the communications.

It appears that a minor earthquake that no one even felt caused a break in the cable. Our current communications systems are extremely vulnerable to the unexpected. These days 911 service is often outsourced to distant operations centers - it can be the first thing to fail in a natural disaster.