FRIGHTFUL EARTHQUAKE.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 12, Issue 984, 3 October 1868, Page 2

FRIGHTFUL EARTHQUAKE.

A frightful earthquake took place on the 13th August and following days, in Peru

and Ecuador. Thousands of lives have been lost. Cities, villages, and towns in the interior and on the coast, have been laid in ruins. . . v Three men-of-war, and numerous merchantivessels, have been lost. It is the most fearful earthquake ever recorded, and has been attended with enormous destruction of property. At Inquique the town is completely swept away — nothing but a mass of ruins remaining. The loss of life is very great, but cannot at present be estimated. The ports of Mexilones, Pisagua, Arica, Ylo, and Challa have shared the fate of Inquique. Arequipa, the second city of the republic, has been levelled with the ground. Not one house is left standing, unless a few wooden erections on the outskirts of the city. . Inoquegua, in the neighborhood of. Arequipa, is likewise overthrown. Tacna has escaped with only the loss of 60 houses. Tambo valley, just beyond the new port ofMejia, a small town, was swept away. Out of 500 inhabitants only 20 managed to escape. The correspondent of the Panama Herald thus writes : — Arica no longer exists. The walls of my house fell — but fell is hardly the word, as they were blown out as if they were spit at me. At the same time the earth opened probably two or three inches, and belched out dust, accompanied with a terrib'e stench, as of powder. The air was darkened, and I could not see my wife, who with the children, was within two feet of me. If this bad lasted any time, we must have been suffocated, but in about a couple of minutes it cleared, and, collecting my household goods together, I then started for the hills. How we passed through fulling houses, where we saw men struck down, some stone dead and others maimed, is to me a mystery, but a merciful providence was over us. We wended our sad way as well as we could towards the hills, with the earth shaking — making us stagger like drunken people. By and bye v great cry went up to Heaven — "The sea has retired." I hurried on and I bad barely got to the outskirts of the town, when I looked back and saw that all the vessels in the Bay were being carried out irresistibly to sea, probably at a speed of ten miles an hour. In a few minutes the great outward current stopped. Then arose a mighty wave — I should judge about 50 ft. high — which came in with a fearful rush, carrying everything before it in awful majesty. The whole of the shipping came back with it, some turning in circles, but all speeding on to an inevitable doom. Meanwhile the wave had passed on. It struck the mole, knocking it into atoms, swallowed up my office as at agiant mouthful, and, roaring on, swallowed up the custom house, and rushed down the main street, carrying every thing before it in its irresistible course. The remains of my dwelling house disappeared faster than the change of scene in a Christmas pantomime. My launches had long since disappeared, and my ruin was thus completed. I stood breathless, looking at the awful sight, but thanki/ig God that life had been preserved to me and my loved ones. But each second seemed to be a lifetime. Looking seaward, I saw the ships still hurrying on to their doom, and in a few minutes this was completed. Every vessel was either ashore or bottom upwards." The Peruvian war steamer Americano lost about 85 hands. The- U.S. steamer Wateree escaped with the loss of but one life. Having a very small draft of water, she was carried bodily on the top of the sea, and landed about a quarter of a mile inshore of the railway track. The Fredonia, U.S. store ship, was turned bottom upwards, and every soul on board perished. The captain, surgeon, and paymaster were on shore at the time, and were saved. The steam ship Santiago reports the almost total destruction of the port of Challa, through an earthquake which occurred on the 13th August at 5 p.m. The havoc continued for about 45 minutes. At the moment, a steamer was about to anchor. After a shock which was felt sensibly on board, the y.ea receded, parting the chains of the vessel and of the company's bulk at anchor in the x'oadstead. It then returned, at a height of about fifty feet, covering the rocks about the anchorage and in the harbour, and sweeping up into the town for a distance of over 1000 feet. The custom-house, steam ship agency, mole, and everything within range, were swept away by three successive seas, preceded and followed by as many as twelve shocks of earthquake, each lasting from three seconds to two minutes in duration. Arrieros report the shock as having been felt very severely on the pampa. The coralon of the Tambo de la Joya, in the midst of the desert, was demolished. The course of the earthquake was from south to north, varied by repeated shocks from west to east. The difference of the time of the occurence between Yslay and Chalhi, a distance of 145 miles, was about 10 minutes. The destruction at Mollendo was caused similarly to that in Cballa — by three successive seas. This is the depot of supplies for the Arequipa railway. Provisions, houses, and property of every description were completely swept awny. Ylo. Here not a vestige of habitation of any kind is left, either in the po"rt or in the town, which contained a population of 500 or more inhabitants. What was not knocked down by the shock was swept away by the flood, attended with a loss of 20 lives. The Minita, English sloop belonging to Mr. A. Wellington of Valparaiso, is a total wreck. The Gambeta, belonging to Messrs. Gambeta Brothers, is also totally lost, as well as a schooner owned in Pisagua ; and the entire crews perished. From the mining Province of Juancavelon we learn that all the houses in that department have been destroyed. Cerro de Pasco is in ruins. The loss of life and property in the mining regions is reported very large. The loss of property by the earthquake is estimated at three hundred millions of dollars. The house of Gibbs alone is said to have lost one million. The U. S. flagship Powbatan, with Admiral Turner on board, has sailed from Callao for Arica with supplies, and to render all possible assistance to the sufferers.