The Pulse

""They used to say one nuclear bomb can ruin your whole day. It was sort of a joke, until the June morning those terrorist bozos whaked us with an electromagnetic pulse from 80 miles up. You always hear people yapping on how it was all different before the pulse. Land of milk and honey blah, blah, blah, blah with plenty of food and jobs and things that actually worked. I was too young to remember, so, whatever... The thing I don't get is why they call it a depression. I mean, everybody's broke... but they aren't really all that depressed. Life goes on.""

- Max Guevara, (Pilot)

The Pulse in the term for the event that caused America to enter another great depression during the 21st century.

Event
On June 1, 2009, a group of terrorists detonate an electromagnetic pulse weapon 80 miles in the atmosphere over the United States of America, which destroys the vast majority of computer and communication systems.

After Effect
When the Pulse hit, every computer and communications system in America was damaged and all digital information was instantly erased, effectively throwing the country into utter chaos.

Hours after the electricity went down, everyone in the country panicked when it was realized that there was no immediate solution to the problem, and many were reduced to almost barbaric methods to ensure their survival. One example of such actions were found in Cape Haven.

Another effect of the Pulse was bankruptcy. Since most American-based banks used computers to monitor transactions, the database was wiped clean and a lot of people suddenly suffered from poverty.

The US basically went from super-power to third-world country in a matter of days.

Notes/Trivia

 * When The Pulse hit, Logan Cale was on his uncle's yacht in Friday Harbor on Orcas Island with a date. Their satnav was destroyed and they ran aground.
 * When The Pulse hit, Max Guevara was staying in a foster home, hiding under the stairs with fellow foster child, Lucy Barrett, when the electricity failed, and their alcoholic and abusive foster father's television program died, and he went looking for someone to blame.
 * The nuke depicted in the Dark Angel series would have been about the same size as the starfish prime nuclear tests which was about 1.45 Megatons  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_Prime)