EARTHQUAKES IN EUROPE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19932, 28 April 1928, Page 11

EARTHQUAKES IN EUROPE.

COBINTH AGAIN SHAKEN. TOWN TO BE REBUILT. DECISION OF INHABITANTS. Australian Press Association—-United Service (Received April 27, 9.5 p.m.) ATHENS, April 26. Earthquakes are still being felt at: Corinth. A number of the inhabitants have left., but the majority is determined not to abandon the city, which it has been decided to reconstruct on the same site.

SCENE OF CALAMITY. THE GRECIAN DISASTER. RECOLLECTIONS OF CORINTH. The present tragic earthquakes at Corinth bring vivid recollections of that sleepy old place, and its destruction seems to be a hard fate for such a quiet and ordinary little country town, writes Mr. H. L. Pilcher.

The name "Corinth" suggests many noble scenes connected with its pride of place of olden times and its association with the early Christian faith, but the years have effaced all but a few ruined traces of its past glories. The modern town, some three miles from old Corinth, is frankly disappointing. Mostly consisting of single-storeyed mud-brick houses of one or two rooms with beaten earth floors, and roofed with heavy semi-circular tiles, its uneven and winding streets vie with each other in the production of ragged urchins and yelping mongrels. The life of the town centres about the main street running up to the station, where the daily event of the Athens express is always well attended by the local population. There is one quite decent hotel, and several quite impossible restaurants, where the one room serves for diners and cuisine alike after the Turkish fashion, while the coffee shop on the corner with its cracked and smoke-begrimed windows and half a dozen or so old habitues playing endless back gammon over their coffee, is the last word. One must not forget the powerhouse, however, every Corinthian was proud of that, and nightly one would hear the grunts and thuds as «the Diesel engine was started up to provide the city with a flickering radiance. The industries of the town are not much in evidence, and from a casual glance one would suspect that lounging round the coffee shops and taverns. constituted the population's sole means of support. However, there are many small industries, such as saddlery, metal working, and the like, to meet the simple needs of the peasants in the neighbouring districts. Corinth also gives its name to the "currant,'' which is cultivated all along the fertile strip on the south shores of the gulf, although at Corinth itself, the limit of fertility is reached, no currants growing on the north shore.

In the streets one meets a varied assortment of characters, from the greasy-look-ing, opulent local storekeeper, to the stalwart kilted mountain peasant with his homespun cloak and voluminous white linen kilt, leading a couple of pack mules, or a rough shepherd driving a.small flock of sheep to market, or maybe the local milkman with half a dozen goats, which he will milk at the doorstep. These are some of the picturesque sights that atone for the very drab and uninteresting side of the modern town.

Across the waters of the gulf some two or three miles, is Loutraki, also severely visited by the earthquake. Loutraki has been a famous watering place since ancient Greek times, and yearly the aristocracy flocks thither to bathe in and to partake of the beneficial natural springs. It has several hotels, which make a pretence of being very select, and only seem to succeed in so far as the bills go. With the baths, a little promenade, and the usual straggling accompaniment of mud brick houses, that is Loutraki, while a barren, rugged limestone mountain rises abruptly behind the town.

The Romans abandoned an attempt to cut a canal through the isthmus, the task being taken up again, and completed after many vicissitudes toward the end of the last century. The cutting of the canal vitally affected Corinth, and from a prosperous town, it has more or less dwindled into insignificance, and its once famous port now consists of a small breakwater inside which only a few fishing craft lie, and a poky little canal office. Even the little coasting steamers do not condescend to stop there, only slowing down to pick up the canal pilot. Going toward Athens from Corinth the railway makes a steep climb over the isthmus from the flats at the canal mouth on which the modern town is built, and two engines are required to take the train up.

An abrupt descent on the other side through gnarled olive trees ages old, brings us to Calamaki at sea level, a poor little fishing village of about a hundred squalid tile-roofed huts, featuring only a couple of the inevitable little coffee taverns, stray dogs, and a church. The earthquake seems to be a cruel visitation on ttiese inoffensive little towns, and it is gratifying to think ihafc our naval men have rendered such prompt and valuable assistance, and wo hope that the inhabitants with their stolid perseverance will soon restore their simple homes. BLACK SEA DISTURBED. WATER SUDDENLY RISES. DAMAGE IN BULGARIA. Australian Press Association—United Service (Received April 27, 9.5 p.m.) SOFIA. April 26. Further earthquake shocks have been experienced. A number of houses at Galabets collapsed. The Black Sea suddenly rose several feet at Varsa, but dropped back to normal a few hours later.

STRANGE RAINFALL. - PHENOMENON IN RUMANIA, FALL OF MUD FROM SKY. Australian Press Association—United Service (Received April 27, f).5 p.m.) BUCHAREST, April 26. A curious phenomenon occurred at Constansa to-day. ■ The sky was darkened by rain, which appeared to contain mnd. It fell continuously for three hours..