EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE IN KENYA

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16622, 13 April 1928, Page 11

EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE IN KENYA

SETTLERS RENDERED HOMELESS NAIROBI (By Mail.) Accurate estimates of the damage caused hv earthquakes in Kenya during January arc now available. The greatest havoc by earthquake appears to have taken place in the Solai district -and Subukia Valley, which are in Great Rift Valley, which runs through the heart of the Kenya Highlands. Here, it is stated, damage estimated at between £15,000 and £20,000 was sustained, while some 22 settlers were rendered practically .homeless.

The most damage occurred on t?iie night of January 0, but subsequent tremors increased -this damage. In two instances whole houses disappeared completely by falling down hillsides. Injuries from falling timber occurred in more than one instance, and in ,one case a settler and his family were trapped in their house so that they could only be rescued with great difficulty by their neighbors, who succeeded in making a way in from beneath. In addition ,to the fissure nine miles long, said to have been created in the Lake Baringo uninhabited country, another crack has been located, extending for some miles along the foot of the escarpment to the north of the Sabukia Valley, which varies in width from Gft ,to Bft. The Kamasia tribe have reported that Lake Hannington rose at least Gft, and continues to be boiling hot, while a landslide is reported from the Baringo district that has swept away a whomq boraa, including people and cattle.