SALVADOR IN RUINS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 137, 9 June 1917, Page 5

SALVADOR IN RUINS.

VOLCANO AND EARTHQUAKE. FOUR TOWNS WIPED OUT. CENTRAL AMERICAN DISASTER * L (Received 10 a.m-), WASHINGTON, June 8. The American Minister at San Salvador, the capital of the Central American Republic of Salvador, has reported to the State Department that an earthquake, followed by an eruption of the volcano of San Salvador, destroyed the business section of the city last night. Other reports state that the long quiescent volcano of San Salvador suddenly burst into activity, the eruption being accompanied by a violent earthquake, and that four towns have been wiped out of existence. The capital itself is stated to have been partly reduced to ruins by the earthquake, and to be burning.— (A. and N.Z. Cable) EIGHT TOWNS DESTROYED, [(Received 1.30 p.m.)' NEW YORK, June 8. Dispatches from Nicaragua report tremendous damage at San Salvador. It is also reported that the towns of Quiqualti, Peque, Nejapa, Suchicoto, Paisnal, Armenios, and Mejicados were destroyed. San Salvador is cut off from all communications.— (A. and N.Z. Cable.)

Salvador, the smallest but most thickly populated of the Central American Republics, consists of a strip of territory stretching between Honduras and the Pacific, its area of rather more than 7,000 square miles containing a population of over a million. Except for a narrow seaboard, Salvador is a high plateau some 2,000 ft above the sea, furrowed by river valleys and broken by. numerous volcano cones, most of which are extinct. At tho foot of the eastern slopes of the chief of these EO-called extinct volcanoes, San Salvador, whose cone rises to a height of 8,360 ft, lies the city of San Salvador in the midst of a fertile plateau, and enjoying a healthy, and equable climate. Founded in 1528, it prospered till 1854, when it was a fine, well-built city, adorned with numerous splendid buildings, and containing a population of over 25,000. In April of that'ycar, however, it was visited by one of the many earthquakes which often shake the volcano-strewn Republic, and was utterly destroyed. The town of Santa Teela, or Nueva San Salvador, was then built about ten miles to the south-west of the old capital, .yid became the seat of government till 1858, when the old capital was restored. Violent, earthquake shocks, visited it in 1873, 1879, and again in 1801, and the present city, which, has a population of about 60,000, consists of houses mostly of one storey, with walls built thick' to resist the earthquake shocks, and enclosing pleasant courts or patios. It possesses fine Government buildings, and a handsome cathedral not yet finished. The capital* is connected with the port o£ Acajutla by a railway about 90 miles in length, and possesses many prosperous industries. VOLCANOES AND EARTHQUAKE SOME HISTORICAL DISASTERS. A volcano and a volcanic region are to be avoided. Zorion estimates that since earthquakes and volcanic eruptions were first recorded by man more than ' 13,000,000 people have lost their .. lives through them, while the damage to property is beyond calculation. But familiarity breeds contempt even of volcanoes, while they are quiescent, and men build their homes and cities at the very base of the monsters, trusting in the uncertain law of averages so far as volcanoes are concerned. Central aud South America and, to a less extent, the North, have always beea"-"* subject to terrific volcanic outbursts .__d earth shocks, though owing to the comparative sparsity of the population tho loss of life has not been so appalling as in some of the old world outbreaks in the midst of densely peopled areas. The most notable of recent years so far asv loss of life is concerned, was the great eruptions of Mount Pelee, which destroyed the town of St. Pierre in tho island of Martinique, aiSl swept over 30,000 souls into eternity. Ac Leon de Caracas, Venezuela, nearly 12,000 perished in an earthquake on March 26, .1812, and in 1868 Arequipa, Iquique, Tacua, Chencha, and many small towns of Peru and Ecuador were destroyed, 25,000 lives being lost. On April 18, IflOß, the world was shocked to hear that San Francisco had been laid in ruins by an earthquake. The seismic wave was detructive on this occasion on a narrow I belt for a length of 400 miles and 50 miles in breadth, resulting in terrible loss of life and immense damage. On . Monday, January 14, lf)07, an oarth- ' rfuake occurred in Jamaica, Kingston, the capital, being shaken into ruins in the space of 20 seconds with tho loss of over 1000 lives.

Japan has been a heavy sufferer from volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, as have Java and some of the other islands of the eastern archipelagos. The terrific I outbursts at Krakatoa, an island in tho Strait of Simda, between Java and Sumatra, in 1883, were among tho most violent volcanic disturbances of modern times though fortunately not attended by any great loss of human life. In Europe Italy has been an especial victim of subterranean disturbances. Laconta estimates that in the kingdom of Naples alone at least 111,000 inhabitants out ot a total of 0,000,000 lost their lives by the effect of earthquakes in a period of 75 years, between 1783 and 1857. The dreadful earthquakes which devastated Calabria and Sicily a few years ago with anpalling loss of life are still fresh in memory. Below is a list of the greatest volcanic d lS a 6 ters during a period covered by mediaeval and subsequent history.—. '

In the San Francisco, IC-labrian many, thousands pcris-ed.

Year. Catania "...._ 11;)Cillcla 1208 Naples 14,-5 U Lisbon 15;j^ Lisbon , 17155 xeddo, Japan 17o;j Abruzzl, Italy '.. itihj Algiers ]71i; China 1781 Lima, Teru ma Grand Cairo 1752 Kasshan, Persia ..... 17.15 Syria 1750 South Italy 1S51 Peru MM .lava m ■ lse - Ohlna and Japan 1S91 Pclee, Martinique ... "JJggi Vesuvius, Italy jlXltf Deaths. 15,000 110,000 40,000 '10,000 00,000 70,000 lou.ouo 2(10.000 15,000 20,000 300,000 is.000 40,000 -10,000 20,000 14,000 23.000 170,000 30.000 I 30,000. v -7 300