Chinese Lose 10,000 Domain ...

The December 26, 2006 earthquakes off Taiwan severed undersea cables and disabled millions of users from accessing the internet. As a result, Chinese internet users were unable to renew their domain names nor reregister the domain names after their expiry.

The domain names -- or Web site addresses -- vanished after Chinese users were unable to update them or failed to re-register them on their expiry, the official Xinhua news service said, citing China International Network Information Center.

However,

Domain name servers were not responsible for lost domain names if holders did not re-register in time, Xinhua quoted a center insider as saying, since the loss was an "act of God."
But domain name servers may compensate individuals and companies under a scheme yet to be finalized, Xinhua added.

The lesson learned here may be that domain names should be renewed in advance of the expiry date and not at the last moment since there may be unanticipated occurrences.
Source [Reuters]