CHINESE EARTHQUAKES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18197, 18 March 1921, Page 7

CHINESE EARTHQUAKES

DEATH AND DESOLATION. Writing in “Monthly Rotes," Miss S. J. Garland, of the China Inland Mission, gives an account of the Chinese earthquake of last December, which has einc© been followed by other and just os severe shocks. Miss Gar--land says: “ It is not easy to tabulate the results of the disastrous earthquake which took plaqe in the north-west of China on the evening of December 16. The loss of life and damage done to property has been on a terriblly largo scale, and as the worst damage has been done in places where there are no foreigners residing, it is difficult to get reliable details as to the extent of the suffering caused by this disaster. The reported loss of life varies from 1,000,000—a Chinese official report—to 100,000, a ‘ conservative ’ foreign estimate. The earthquake .was felt in several provinces Fengsiang and Lungchow, in. the west of Shensi, reporting numbers of people killed and many houses destroyed; but the worst effects were felt in the east of Kansu. At Tsinchow about 200 deaths are reported, and well nigh half the houses in the city are in ruins, many of the people having to live in the open, amidst heaps of broken tiles and dsbris—all that is left of their homes. . Many other cities have suffered still more severely, amongst them being Tongweihsien, Maying, and Longtehhsien. “The worst effects,'however, seem to have been in Pingliang and its out-stations and surrounding districts. The official death roll for the city and neighbourhood is 2000. Many villages and hamlets have entirely disappeared. At Haicheng, a city two days northwest of Pingliang, 90 per cent, of the people are said to have been killed. At Kuyuen, where the ground opened in many places and spouted forth black water, the death toll has been officially estimated at about 40,000/ Six hundred died inside the city, which is entirely mined. Thousands are homeless. The above-mentioned city is one of the outetatibns, two days’ journey north from the central station of Pingliang. The mission premises there are in ruins, and the caretaker and his family are wounded. A letter from Mr G. Tomvull, dated January 13, tells of 21 cart loads of very severely wounded people who had just arrived, being sent by the official of that place, to be cared for at the hospital in Pingliang. Another letter from the same place tells of the shortage of food supplies owing to so much wheat and other grain having been buried in falling ■ caves and -ruined villages.’’ Dr, Parry, a missionary at Ts’ing-ning-ohow, an out-station of Pingliang, writes that the official report gives the ;number of killed for that city alone as 635, and wounded 1159, while 3330 people were being, fed from the official granaries. '“ln 'fact,” he says, “this prosperous city is practically in ruins.” He. commends the Chinese ,magistrate, “a man among ten thousand, who has been here three years, and is beloved by the people. He lives simply (is wearing his father’s old clothes as a matter of fact), and is expend-' ing the proceeds'of his office for the tetterament of the people. Since coming here, he has established a free hospital, a home for poor children, and a public library. He has put down gambling, deals , severely with swearing, 4nd fighting in the streets, and is tackling opiujp smoking and foot-binding with a courageous hand. He has introduced knitting of woollen and cotton garments from locally-spun, yarn, which he has taught the people to do.” Dr Parry adds:—“From personal observation and gathered information, my impression is that the centre of this earthquake covers an area about 300. li in diameter, including Huei-ning hien (West) Tong uei hsien and -Na ying (South) Tsing ning heien and Nuyuen (West) and Nai uen hsien (North), with the mid-point about Tsing ch’iang ih and district, whore the seismic phenomena- were prodigious. About .here the hills literally flowed down, converting the valleys into hills over a distance of three to five li at a stretch. Hamlets, with their occupants, were completely submerged. The surface is studded with huge boulders of earth, amongst which carts have to pick their way with great difficulty, even though preceded by men with picks and spades. “My experience is limited to this one earthquake, but I hope I shall never see such destruction again. It is impossible to estimate accurately the total loss of life, but it must range somewhere in the tens of thousands.”