EARTHQUAKE IN INDIA.

Taranaki Herald, Volume I, Issue 42, 18 May 1853, Page 4

EARTHQUAKE IN INDIA.

The Singapore Free Press gives the fo'kwing Account of an earthquake that happened in the Moluccas, in November last : — "On the 16th of November, about 20 minutes to 8 in the morning, a heavy vertical oscillation of the ground wa> felt at Bunda Ncira, which soon changed into a rapidly increasing undulation from the north-east to the south-east, which lasted for more than five minutes. Every one left hia house ; to remain standing was impossible : people were obliged to take a firm hold of something, or throw themselves on the ground. " At the shock nearly all the houses w< re thrown down or very muoh shattered. Government buildings, ihe church, the officer*' houses in the encampment, and the warehouses suffered the greatest injury Tlie Chinese quarter was a heap of ruins, and the native village on the Zonnegat was laid waste. The Papenberg fell partly in, and two bamboo houses upon it disappeared, and on Great Bnnda the housi s of the paik keepers, their out houses, anJ smokitig houses for the nutmegs underwent the same fate. Nothing is visible of the village

Lonthier but a heap of rains. Selnmu was terribly shattered, while detached pieces ol rock lay everywhere scattered around. There was no death*, however, to lament, and only some persons were slightly bruised or wounded. " But the misfortune did not stop there*, About eight o'clock a disturbance of the sea occurred, which filled every heart with frnr and dismay, and caused every one to fly to the highest ground. In quick sucression the bay filled and emptied, and at times it appeared only a little river. " This seaquake continue to increase in ii frightful manner, and thrice overwhelmed Great Banda and Neira with the largest rollers ; on the last place they reached several feet iv the houses, and burst the doors open. These huge waves ran so high that they beat over Fort Nassau and reached the foot of the hill on which Fort Belgica is built, carrying everything with them in their reflux, hut at the same time leaving I behind a quantity of fishes. The native i boats were driven on shore, and i heir crews ' sought shelter in one of the sheds on the old pier, but they could not withstand the force of the rollers, and in a few moments they were torn out of their place of shelter, j and driven seawards, there miserably to perish. It is estimated that 60 men lost their lives in this way." The report subsequently states that these frightful natural phenomena had lasted several days, during which time there was scarcely an hour in which the ground, aid not heave and shake in the Heaviest manner. The accounts from the islands Rosengim and Ay had been even more tragical. In Neiva there are not more than two habitable houses remaining. Other islands hud more or less felt the oscillation, accompnnicd in some cases with issues of smoke and loud subterranean noises.