THE QUETTA EARTHQUAKE

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 128, 1 June 1935, Page 8

THE QUETTA EARTHQUAKE

Though full details have not yet been received, it is quite clear that the earthquake in British Baluchistan on May 30, when Qiielta, the capital, suffered severely, caused a disaster of the first magnitude. The first reports estimate the death-roll as at least 1000, including many Europeans, members of the Air Force, the police, and officials. Most of the casualties, it is stated, occurred in the native quarters of the city of Quetta where houses toppled down on one another into the narrow streets. From this we may conclude that it will be some time before it is possible to determine the actual loss of life, as a search of the ruins must inevitably be slow. It was nearly three weeks before a reasonably accurate announcement could be made officially in the case of the great earthquake •in Northern India of January 15, 1934, and it will not be forgotten how long it took after New Zealand's worst seismic catastrophe in Hawke's Bay, February 3, 1931, to realise the true extent of the havoc. All previousl experience of earthquake disasters in Asia —and they have been many in recent years—leads us to believe that first reports are seldom exag-gerated—-as they usually are in America —and consequently that the calamity which has befallen the Quetta district is a very serious one indeed, comparable with the Formosa earthquake of only six weeks ago. Though it is quite impossible, with all the scientific knowledge at our disposal, to foretell the occurrence of Ihese earth tremors which have taken such toll of mankind, notably in the last twenty years, it is quite possible to take precautions in building tha* will obviate heavy losses of life ana damage to property. Japan has already accomplished much', and in this country we are glad to see that progress is being made with a national building code that will minimise the risks in the future.