The submarine cable issue is not a fragile as the author suggests, see - https://www.submarinecablemap.com/
However, NZ is currently volcanically active. Volcanic eruptions and serious earthquakes are a fact of life. Buildings collapse, land shifts volcanic clouds disrupt transport. Serious damage is done, people die. Kiwis cope with it.
The only question is, why did it take so long for an Aotearoa Azure region to be announced. A curious statistic from the 80s is that NZ had the same ratio per capita usage/ownership of personal computers as San Francisco. There really is thunder downunder.