Povetry Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISNBORNE, THURSDAY, APRR, 19, 1906. DISASTER AT SAN FRANCISCO.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10641, 19 April 1906, Page 2

Povetry Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISNBORNE, THURSDAY, APRR, 19, 1906. DISASTER AT SAN FRANCISCO.

The present year is 'being made notable by an unusual amount of seismic activity, causing oaUistrophets of alarming magnitude, aud the: latest, disturbance . of the earth's surface reported from San Francisco" gives ,'&> me color to (.lie suggestion made by (Jtrnton (scientists a mouth ago, when the jCpurrieres disaster occurred' in France, thaf the crust of the earth is m a dangerous condition, and t'liao further calamities were imminent, bince the piedifctioir.wus niade the outbreak of Vesuvius, tcuusing ui6uster to the thickly pupuluced lieiguporiioud around theinouu. win, has tinmen place; ti|i«re haw been another gb.a£u-up m iJ'oriiiosti, entailing the loss . of iiuuureds . of iivts ; ; aiitf . liow comes aiewsr of jin earthquake which has partially, witcketlj Sun Jbrahcisco, involving great lo£s of life. JWu'lier iv the year Ufcve 'was suxothav severe earthquake calamity m, ; Japan, earthquakes and tidal waves m Central Gnd- £>outu Americu, and toe huge' tidal wave chat swept over 'Pcihiti, ail ot them- taking ternbi© toll, of human li*ec The details co f«r telegiuphedi '' frortu Sun ; la-aucisco ane meagre, but ttre sufficient to show <,hat as is sometimes the case with the sensations reported by the American press, the original report has not been exaggerated.EarthquajSes are Dy no means unKllown' m California}' on tine coutraty, the yw&erh seuboard of the Oniced Wtutes is fre. queutly subject to eartu tt'enroi-s. In its early Oay&Hm I'mnicißCp;. had some heuyy fihiikes, and-, for years ther« was the same feeling there m regard .to the'^onstruction ot, $nek shopß aa prevailed iii Wellingcpn loir a long time alter _ the destructive, earthquakes of the fifties. Latterly, however, tue population has become used ; jxi eartluruuK*6, which occur most jfrequpiitly m the month of Outobeiy and hugu e&itices m bfick and rtXMiei not as gigantic as the skyscrapers of Ne»r York, \ but reaching to ten and' eleven ©toreys, have been erected. The American Bl*fte>n of building the masonry round a sttjfel framework was calculated to make thafbuildiugs eai-thquake-proof, but some ot;the latest and hheat Structures, m -ilfe Jaity have comet down. As to the cai«^ of 'ihe^ eoithqiiakes, that is a debatable point. San t^ciscC.ifc, situate m Jine between the active vol.canoes of ABtSka. afcd those of, Central ■and ■Southeiiv., America. The caunirry round about bears evidence of treukndous .upheaval* inu bygone ages, and eeveral of the high hills m close; proximity to the city are extinct volcanoes. Eatthquakea "iu*e aW attributed/ to; landslides' and- other physical " changes m the, bed of the powatn, and the chare prepared for the British Association' m 190 i f>i the great Bhopks of the preceding year strikingly illustrated, the tendency of chocks to origftiate under the sea. Atmospheric influences are also believed to have, large, ly to do with tlie causation. of ijairt'h tremors, anoi some i"ecent> investigatioivs point to a periodicity m, earthquakes synchronous .with the eleven year.period of siin-sp^ ;activity. Amouc the more disastrous recorded eartliqttakes. we may enumerate tne f ollowing : 1631, -Naples, lives lost 3000 ; 1692, > >Ja#aicu, 3000 lives ; .1693,1 Sicily, 60,000 lives,- 1724, Lima, 18',^)6:Uvc&^ A755, Lisbon, 50,000 ; 1783, Oalabira, 60,000 ;^1787, Qmto, 41,000, imd <3ai<acas, 12,000 ; 1822, Aleppo, 22;000 5 4855, Zeakuidj 1857, Gala,brio, 10;000j .1860. Mandona, 1200; 1868, Peiu and Kcuador, 25,000 i 1880, Manila, 3000 ; . 1883, Iscbia, 2000, and Krakatoa, 35,000; 1886, - Charleston; 1896, Japan, 26,000; 1902,; Moiit-Pelee. 20,000; 1905, India, 150,000 -lives, lost.