THE EARTAQUAKE IN ECUADOR.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 379, 17 October 1868, Page 7

THE EARTAQUAKE IN ECUADOR.

(Erom the JPauama Stat und Heratd.) Our Guayaquil correspondent writes us under date of the 26th August, giving us full particulars of the terrible ravages committed in Ecuador by the earthquake. We translate the following from his letter:— On tie 16th of the present month there occurred in the provinces of Pichincha and Imbahura a tremendous earthquake unequalled in the history of Ecuador. The towns of Ibarra, capital of the Province of Imbabura, San Pablo, Atuntaqui, Imantad, &c , are in ruins. Where Cotacachi was is now a lake.

In Ibarra, Otovala, and Cotacachi, almost the entire population has perished. In Quito the earthquake and its effects have been proportionately less, but the buildings are so much injured that the slightest movement will throw them down. There are already in ruins the church and convent of San Augustin, the two churches of Senora del Carmen, the towers of the cathedral and San Maroos the San Luis, &c. The towers of the other churches, the government palace and many private houses have been all cracked, and are momentarily threatening to fall to pieces.

Senor Valenzuela, Minister of Colombia, remains in Guayaquil, having resolved not to continue his journey to the interior at present. In Guayaquil the earthquake was felt at various times between the 13th and 16th, and another at a later date, but it did no damage. The first lasted forty or fifty seconds, the direction being from east to west, and the movement regular and slow. It is expected thatthere has been immense damage done in Esmeralda.

In addition to the foregoing we have received the following items from another correspondent, written on board the Peru :—I saw a letter from Quito, stating that a terrible earthquake had at 1.20 a.m. on the 16th inst. convulsed that Republic, resulting in the complete destruction of Itaburo. Ibarra, Otavalo, and Cotocachi, the loss of life was estimated close upon 30,000. Quito had been more tenderly dealt with although it had been shaken considerably and some twenty lives lost, the populace had deserted their dwellings and were living in tents in the squares and open spaces about the city.

The towns about Quito, as Perucho, Puellaro, and Cachiguanjo, have almost entirely disappeared. The number of deaths in Quito have fortunately been very small, but in the other t©wns it is calculated that not less than twenty thousand have perished. The few who are left uninjured in these places have been unable to assist those re-

i maining alive or dying under the ruins, and have been obliged to fly from the stench of the dead bodies which commenced to putrify and infest the atmosphere. Letters from Quito bring dates to the 19th, up to which time the earthquakes continued at intervals of a few hours.

It has been impossible yet to obtain data as to the cause of the terrible phenomena ; some attribute it to the' volcano of Agualongo aud others to Cayambe.

The news which was received in Guayaquil up to the sailing of the steamer, had been forwarded under the influence of great fright, and probably may not be quite correct. The next steamer will bring us full accounts, but they may be even worse j but in Quito nothing was known of the fate of the neighbouring towns, either Ecuador or Colombia.

The venerable patriot, Teodore Gomez de la Torre was saved in a most miraculous manner in Ibarra, where scarcely any wereleft alive,butheescapedsadlyinjured. His brother Francisco was equally fortun?te, but Don Jose Maria, their brother, perished with all his family. The same paper of the 31st August says : —'* The news which appears in our columns to-day is the most appalling and heartrending it has ever been our painful lot to lay before our readers. Thousands upon thousands of lives called into eternity in an instant ; whole cities, towns and villages swept away from the earth as if by magic ; dozens of ships with their crews whirled from their anchorages like toys by the receding sea and then swallowed up by a mighty wave, or washed far away up into the heart of the city. Such a picture of general destruction and desolation, extending hundreds of miles along the coast, and reaching from the seaboard up into the topmost heights of the Andes, can scarcely be imagined, as is contained in our correspondents' letters, and the reader stands aghast with horror when he tries to contemplate or comprehend the magnitude of the devastation that has occurred. Whether the desolation is yet at an end, or what greater ruin we shall yet bear of no one ban imagine, for there are many points in the interior and further south unheard from, whilst nothing whatever has yet reached us from the Columbian frontier. We shall await with anxiety further details of this terrible calamity by the next steamer.'