SEVERE EARTHQUAKES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20965, 31 August 1931, Page 9

SEVERE EARTHQUAKES.

INDIA AND BALUCHISTAN. TOWN BAZAAR ENGULFED. MANY PERSONS KILLED. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received August 30, 11.35 p.m.) CALCUTTA. August 30. Earthquake shocks which had continued in north-west India since Tuesday culminated on Thursday night in a series of severe tremors which shook the area between Karachi, Quetta, Lahore, Mullen and Hyderabad. Railways and telegraph lines were broken. Several people were killed at Loralai, near Quetta. The communications were interrupted, but have now been partially restored. It is learned that extensive damage was done over a wide area.

The full casualty list is at present riot procurable, but it is known that many persons were killed in Baluchistan. Sharigh, a town 50 miles east of Quetta, the extensive Indian bazaar, which fortunately had been evacuated after the first tremor, completely disappeared in a huge fissure.

At Machru the prison was seriously damaged. Two warders were killed and tho prisoners were removed under a military guard. Four civilians were killed when houses collapsed in the bazaar. The railway lines round Quetta are blocked and many towns are still isolated.

The earthquake appears to have originated at Sharigh. The first tremor lasted nearly two minutes.