EARTHQUAKE IN SOUTH AMERICA.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXIII, Issue 2040, 21 August 1906, Page 5

EARTHQUAKE IN SOUTH AMERICA.

VALPARAISO IN RUINS. THOUSANDS HOMELESS. According to New York cablegrams, at o'clocK on Thursday evening a tremendous earthquake whs experienced at Valparaiso, and was followed by many tires, extending from Plaza Order) northwards. Many of the houses were destroyed and all the city was more or less daonged either by tho earthquake or fire. Business is at a standstill, the banks are closed, and there is no gas or eleotrx light. Panic reigned. Many families are flening. The sea remained calm, and the shipping was uninjured. Another account states that hundreds of people were killed, while many hundreds were imprisoned in the ruins and •jurned to death. The business section of the town is almost entirely destroyed. Ihe fires are still raging, and throngs of homeless people are in the streets. Two distinct and terrible shocks were felt, the second following instantly after the first. The whole city seemed to suddenly swing backwards and forwards, and then a jolt was felt of such force that whole rows of buildings toppled to the ground in a few seconds. Fires immediately started in the business section, and before mid night fires began in the Bella Vista section, and that is also doomed. Many land slides have occurred around the city. Nothing has been heard from Santiago, and it is feared that a similar fate has befallen it. The railway tunnels are filled with debris, and miles of track are so much twisted as to be useless.