THE EARTHQUAKES IN JAPAN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 9311, 30 December 1891, Page 3

THE EARTHQUAKES IN JAPAN.

AITAIiLING LOSS OF LIFE

The Yokohama correspondent of the North China Herald gives the following details concerning the effects of the earthquakes iv Japan r—" The earthquake "proved to have been of such appalling force- and magnitude in the districts to the south-west of this, notably Nagoya, Gifu, Ogaki, &c, that Wednesday, 28th of October, will be lastingly remembered as a day of national calamity. The total number killed has steadily increased until now it i.s known to stand at over 6000. These figures are certain to be augmented, as reports are received from outlying districts. Altogether 513 distinct shocks were recorded in Nagoya between tlie 28th, 20 minutes to 7 n.m., and the 2nd November. The area most affected appears to be in the provinces of Owari, Mino, Mikawa, Shinauo, and Hida, and Mr Pownall, of the railway bureau, who has just returned from a visit to the district, says that 'the origin of the outbreak appears to have been at some point in the fertile Owari Plain, which is bounded on the west by the hills running inland from Yokkaichi, aud on the east by the mountains of the Nakasendo route, and is traversed by the railway from Ngoya to Ogaki. Within the. limit of this plain the greatest damage was caused.' It is hopeless to attempt to convey anything like a. full idea of the terrible calamity which has devasted these fair southern provinces; the area over which the wand of ruin and death lias passed alone renders such a task impossible.. Glimpses of the situation may be given, fortunately from eye-witnesses. At Ogaki a guest in one of the hotels was smoking when the first shock was felt, a shock he describes as one of tremendous force accompanied by a loud unearthly sound. Just as he moveil from his room the greater part of the wing in which it stood fell with a crash into the river below, and almost immediately afterwards the main building fell. He with some others crept from beneath the timbers only to find the whole city in ruins. Nothing but broken, fallen rooftops met his eye as he rose to his feet and made his way as best he could out of the city. The roads and gardens were no longer distinguishable, and he describes as bitterly pitiful the cries of the wounded as he passed. He managed to reach Sckigahara in safety. AiiotheraccountsnysthatinMidoTemple of Ogaki some 200 devout persons had been engaged throughout the night in a special secvice. The temple was thrown down by the force of tlie lirst shock. Fire broke out almost immediately, so that, the report adds, the poor worshippers were 'in a hell of lire on the earth.' At Gifu the railway station was thrown down just as the passengers from the down train were passing out. The foremost groups were ail killed, or more or less wounded, whilst those who remained in the carriages, generally speaking, escaped. Proceeding from Nagoya northwards to Gifu, the evidences of what had happened were plain. The force does not seem to have acted uniformly. Sometimes for two or three miles the ground would be unbroken and houses would be seen standing. Then would come another place, in which the houses were felled and the fields scarred by long deep fissures running here north and south. By many of these, as Gifu was approached, were layers of soft brown volcanic, mud, which had been projected through the soil, showing that somewhere near this had been the origin of the elisturhance. At Gifu, as seen in passing by, nearly all the houses seemed in ruins, and the people were collecting what little they could from the wreck. And very little jt- seemed to be. The mortality at Gifu is unknown, but must be very great. At Nagoya it is variously stated at from 1000 to 2000. At Ogaki, a town of per-

haps 16,000 inhabitants, 600 are known to have perished. Adding the wounded to the killed, half the population have suffered personally. The streets there are impassable, and the town is a horrible sight. In that neighbourhood the ground was all quaking and hot water springing from it, which at Gifu station rose to a height of Bft.' "The lists of the killed and wounded are already too lengthy to admit of reproduction here. I must content myself with giving the figures for the principal cities and districts. In the Prefecture of Nagoya the returns up to the forenoon of Ist inst. show that 2190 lost

their lives, and 2771 were wounded ; and that 35,316 houses had been destroyed, and 8691 nartially destroyed. In Gifu Prefecture, which includes the town of Ogaki, 1706 persons are known to have been killed, and 1937 wounded.

The horrors of the situation in several of the towns and villages of Gifu Prefecture were intensified by the outbreak of fires immediately after the earthquake shocks, and in this"district consequently no fewer than WO3 houses were consumed by tire, besides 6093 destroyed by the earthquakes. Some of the newspapers place, the total number of persons killed in Gifu Prefecture at not less than 5000.

The utmost that can be subscribed here will do little, to alleviate the distress and want, and the hitter consequences of this fearful calamity cannut fail to be severely felt by thousands of the poorer people during the coming winter months. The disturbance in its severest form

was felt in no fewer than 30 provinces, as far

north as Yechigo, and .southwards as far as Awa in Shikoku Island aud Bizen and Higo in Kiushiu. No such earthquake has occurred in the country since 1856. The destruction at Osaka and Kobe was widespread, ami at Osaka, at certain of the mills, the loss of life was very heavy. At Nam the temples suffered somewhat. It is feared that the Tokaido railway cannot be in working order again for two or three weeks at least. The permanent way is much injured beyond Nagoya, and one or two oi' tho bridges, notably the large iron bridge over the Nagaragawri" beyond Ogaki, are in such a damaged state that the repairs will occupy a considerable- time. The number of houses destroyed has not

been exactly determined yet, and it cannot be known i.nt'il the shucks ceases. At Gotigeuyama, lnabavama, &c., near this city, there wen-many huge rocks and stones broken, and thrown down to the foot of the hills. The banks of Nagara fiver were severely rent, and in the city where the ground was not quite hard many lissuivs are noticeable, some of which measure 12ft to l.ft in length, and lft in breadth. From these rents dirty water spouted out. The water of wells changed to a niutl.lv brown colour, and it is. 1 need scarcely say, no longer lit to drink. Only three or four wells are clean, and upon these wells only the people now depend. The. scene generally hrdllcs description, an.l it is indeed horrible to look at the wounded persons being carried on boards to the hospital.

—When the electric light has been deprived of its heal ray it is shown to have a powerful stimulating eil'ect upon the muscles of the body.