LATEST NEWS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LI, Issue 9074, 24 April 1906, Page 5

LATEST NEWS.

MILITARY ESTIMATE OF DEATHS.

(Received; April 24,J).25 a.m.)

NEW YORK, April 23.

Admiral McCalla stationed cruisers at the entrance of^t'he bay to prevent vessels leaving Frisco, in case they were required to accommodate or convey refugees away.

The military authorities believe that the earthquake killed- under a thousand, and that the rest died from the fires or from fright and exhaustion.

Thousands on Sunday worshipped round rude altars in the parks.

j A STUDY OF RECENT EARTHQUAKES.

SOME INTERESTING COMMENTS. „

In his book. "A Study of Recent Earthquakes," recently issued, Dr Davison gives some interesting facts concerning some^f the principal outbursts of subterranean energy.

The Indian earthquake of June. 1897, is described by Dr Davison as, if .not, without a rival, "ces<tainly one of the most disastrous and most widely felt of whdeh we possess any record." It is much to be', feared from, thA Reports which have been pouring in, upon us'by cable that the bad pre-eminence earned by the 1897 upheaval, has been excelled by the recent outbreak. "Dr. Davison tells'rus -that tihe forerunners, of the Indian earthquake of 1897 Were few and slight, only- 1 sensitive' and obseryantpersons at Shillong and Silchaa? detecting anything unusual in the June weather.' But everybody felt the shock when it came. The ground began to rock, and the unfortunate people who 'had to walk on it were affected much as bad sailors are af fected. In the minute which the shock, occupied roads were destroyed and build-, ings upset. Loose stones lying on the road* were tossed in the air, "like peas on a drum." ; At Sildbar, the unfortunate people were treated now to "an undulatory movement from north to .south, like .-the swinging of a suspension bridge," and anon to *'a motion like that of a boat tossed ip a choppy sseta t or by the crossing of great waves, which, whatever their dominant direction may have been, certainly did not travel front north to- south." We are further told that people felt, as if they were being shaken like a rat by a terrier,' ' so pronounced was tihe horizontal movement of the earthquake, with its vertical component. And yet the vibrations which, caused all these uncomfortable feelings, and which, besides, did such great damage, did nob last longer than a minute, or, as some authorities say, a second. Only those who have experienced earthquake shocks, however slight, can "understand how many wons of time may be compressed into a

second.

Dr Davison cannot give any help as to the avoidance of earthquakes by the inhabitants of tihe> place® which, are' to be affected. 3 "For the present/ be says, "the oifly warning available, is that given by the preliminary 1 sound, which may precede the .strongest vibrations by a© much as five to ten or even more seconds." Ten or even' more seconds between a quiet life and an earthquake! In another place our author speaks more comfortable words. He says • "Excluding the Ischian earthquakes, which belong to a special class, it is evident that there is generally some slight preparation for a great earthquake. For a few days of hours beforehand weak shocks and tremors are felt or rumbling noises heard within the future meazo-seismal area But, unfortunately, it has not yet been found possible, to distinguish -these diaturbano.es from others of apparently the same character which occur alone, >so that /or the present they fail to serve as warnings. In Japan, where the organisation of earthouake studies is more complete than else where, it is possible that a vague forecast might be made, if the distribution of the fore-shocks of the earthquake of 1891 should prove to be a general feature of all great- eaitihquakes."

The area over which seismic disturbance has spread does not always, it would appear, coincide with the importance of the disturbance. If this gauge were adopted fclw- Charleston (U.S.A.) disturbance, which made its influence felt over 2;800,000 square miles, would .be vastly more important than the Indian earthquake, which distixfced an area of only 1,750,000 square miles, but which, nevertifoeless, was the most important instance up to date. The explanation is, not that tremblings of the f-arth occur over a' larger area in the United States than in India, but that the Americans are more sensitive to weak tremors, "or more- observant, than other j nations, the British escepted. On this ■point, Dr Davison observes that ''the magnitude of the sound area depends, even more, tlhan that of the disturbed area, on the personal equation of the observers. Th<> lower limit of audibility," he. goes on to say, ''varies not only in different in dividuals, but also in different races. In Great Britain it is doubtful whether an earthquake ever occurs unaccompanied by sound, and in the. w-eizo-seismal area the noise is heard by nearly all observers. With Italians, the lower limit of audibility is higher than with tlhe Anglo-Saxon race; s]iqlit shocks frequently occur withoutnoticeable sound, but, with strong ones the larger number of observers is sure to include one or more capable of hearing the rumbling noise. The Japanese are, howev?r, seldom affected by the more rapid earthquake vibrations, and the strongest shocks may be unattended by any recorded sound. The result is manifest in the size of the sound area, in different countries. In the Hereford earthquake tlte sound area contained 70,000 squaw miles; in the Nea politan earthquake, about 3300 square miles ; while in Japanese earthquakes the sound is rarely heard more -. then a few miles from the" epicentre,'