Ka Elele Poakolu, Volume I, Number 4, 29 September 1880 — Earthquake in Manila. [ARTICLE]

Earthquake in Manila.

The f'ollowing particulars of the diaastrou8 curthquakes whieh have caused so mueh destruction and distress at Manila are culled from recent ' ; i excliangeh. A Iw Houi(TpToi)ioiiitory Ahoekn an earthquake of grent Heventy oeeured on the 18th of July,_aL . 40 mīnuteH . past noon. ()ne present thus deseribes hio Henwitions : — " To feel the solid earth Hwaying to and fro '■ l)eneatli ono like the watei'H of the old- oeean i« a f'oeling- tliat only thoHe wlm have experienced it ean appreciate. lt ia 8-ickening, horrible.- When ; in a(idition, the agony is prolonged l'rom day to ,day.,_aiiMt_iurR_heen_li-erqT-the-8U8pen6eT-the-jes--{-pectution of new disaster becomes truly terrible. Thc roeking waa ao greut as to render it impoaaihle aluioflt to walk,. and.when the awlul moment8 had sped and the earth 'ceased to trēmble, "then arose a fearful wailing from ihe terrified populaee." - • A corre8ponclent saye : — 1 cannot pretend to give anything like' a correet estimate of the damr age-done. Nine or ten perflonB have been killed, and a mueh" larger number injured. some vqry Heriously. Among t-he latCer I am sorry to bavd to name Mr. F: C. Parker, of the firm pf Messr8. Peele, Hubbell Co., who was struck by Che debrm of tbe- falling premfses, received several seve're bruiees, his ]left eye almost cut out, and his arm fractured in four places. The arm had to be amputated, and at laHt repor.tB . the patient. was in a' precaTious eOnditibn. "The~'Tfainage to property is enormous, and hās been roughly estimated at upwards.qf one million dōllai'8. 1 fear this will be under the mark rather than over it. The ecclesiastical buildings. have suflered mueh. The Cathedral. has been partially de8troyed, the towers having fallen, and«numerous other ehurches hilve euffered theToss of tower or roof. Most ol the public biiildings, and, indeed. the private bouses are in so insecure a conditio.n thut people are afraid of passing along the streets Tor f'ear they should be erushed to dea.th under some tottering building. Carriages are enjoined to drive very slowlyi for fe.ar the vibration should 1 bring the unsteady structures on the road'kay. Commercial establishments have ,sustained sad lossea. Many large godowii8 :f'ull of sugar have beeti wreeke.d, and the sugar buried in the ī'uinā: The Luzon S.ugar Refinēry. has no't- suffere.d yery. ' materially,..beyond the eoilapae of a godown, but several sugar claying • works iiave been literally laid pro8trate. The Barracks are in ēo insecure a state that the troops have beēn obliged to clearsout of 'them. The building8 lining the San Miguel road have nearly all; sdffered '•either' *b'y the walls being rent qr the roqf- heing" bropght down. ln; the euhui'ha there hae. <also l?een exten8Īye damage, lew būildings eseaping altocether. ' ' All . bdaine.H8. ik. oL..aQMse.„8MpmcLedv

anWwe "are all in uncertaiuty ufl to. Ihe' future. ShoGk8.eontinue at intervals, and no one ean say when another jjejrfful earth-wavo may._not_again aet the feqlingl)ūildinge in motion and cpmplete the ruin so Iamentably begnn. Mapy ol' tiie riībniele88 have sougbt refuge in ipat.Tmts, where they are tolerably flafe, at thcse irail . fenements could not do mueh injury to the occupants if they collap8ed; Other8 have sought Bhelter.in boats and some of the ve88els in port, believirig theinMves more eccure on wator than on ehore. Of. eooiae mat huta a,re at a pi'emium in con8equonce ānd are not easily obtainable at any pnee." • Thc'fearaof thc unlmppy inhabitantsof what wafe ono of the fairest oilioa on. earth were orily too soon to be realized. Tlio grqatest ehoek of all 6ccin;rod July 20tb, at 3.40 p.m., pon8isting of two great o8cillatiori8— oneoFT7° and the other 19 ° , as niott8ur(id by the eei8moineter — the whole oecupying 45 second8. The efteot8 of thc8e 4ilioek8-are~4hu» (k8ofibtM-by--Tl»(r-oiqitaru~ofMa Htciimqr 'whioh waw juet about leaving tho harbor when tliey occurred „ " The Uatiiedral epiio and several other eonppiououu buildinga wero Boen to lopple and fall in ouo inglorious pile, with a"terrific oraah, oloud8 ofduHt covoringthewlioletown in a few eeoonae aiterwardB, ana obflouririg the view ofeverything. Thia ahoek waa diatinctlv felt in the bay wbere / • w • , ' ' ■ ' ' V' '

the 'Ē8meral«la waa lying. The water bubbled and boiled,up noieily around .ber, the vessel tossed as i f in a heavy gale, and was bumped ' • heayily as if the bed of the river was also eoncērned in the general state of excited upheaval. <> The wreck of a āhip whieh haa beqn eunk near ■ th'e heaeh was thrown rightjip,gul of lln; waLm. bodily, and one of her iroiT maeta wa8agen-to ' ' give way. She had been snnk for somc "r,ima— - — ■ — — • — and the rai8ing of the veBsel had 'oeen given up. as an impoflBibility. The coridition of all the shipping in the nver was flome.thing frightful, - the 8enstttion both on board aiiip and ,on shore was a Serce tremendous 8train on the nerves • the shock8.came with remarkable ūnpleasantnes8, and the feeling they engendered, beside8 the movement o f the ground— -morc particularly--os-shore- — was that of bei'ng suddenly jeonne.cted ' with a galvanie b'attery strongly charged."' According to t.he observations of tbe Fathers, who have chyge of the Oservatorv, thē shocks had one peculrarity extremelv unusual, if indeed ' . not uniqueēBO far as. scientific observationB haye hitherto extended, viz., that of being all from one direction, although extending over a "perrGd ofniore than five days. The great shock o.f the ^ 20th was folIōwed by another of(great eeverity at 10.40 p.m. the eame dav,'from whieh time tili late on the 23rd alighter shocks followed one ; . . / another ' wi th gradually- dimini8hing-inten8ity. - From the hour of the firat great ahoek on the ' 18th, till midnight o.n the 20th, frhe earth waa .. hardl"y free. from tremblings. . The following '' ; : — extract8 trom \iarious 8ouree8 supply " further • ; detaiis of these events, and of tbe mea8ure8 taken to relieve the, di8tres8 they caueed-: — " Thousands of people are gone on board the • shipping, both in the river and bay. j The manager of the Hongkorig. arid Shanghai Bank and , .r "his wife are - li ving in a lighter on the river ;"uo • .. ..; are many other famH.ies likewise. ■"••_ " A voTcano behind Loa JBanos.that ~fiad beēn . extinct ;for many years papē-haa broken out anew, arid is būrning activelj; — the pu.eblos at ita base bavē all been e.vacuatedr moat of the inhf5Ttants • ,taking to the-lake. ■ • • ,i'-The news a8 .t0cthte'.Provinces is very d'ēpife8s-' irig ; the Lake town8 have.8uff'ered verv 8eriously , -with tferia exception,.they havesuffered 'slightly».; P - . ' ^ _in all the re'maining part.o.f the T8liJ,nd of Luzoo, aa. far as telegraphic communication eeaehea ; . where this does oot ieaeh, it will he aome time before we have detail8r- • x " Tbere ia not one building of heavy material8 • that has.not auA'e^e^ae^e^el^. AU the 'churebes, , without exqeption, ,have heen 8eriously damaged. Tbe approximate nūmber of ' buildingfl that. th'reaten ruin, and for the publi-c safety are . . .. or'd€reol to be4emoiished, is up todateabout 100. j • •" By the, Munioipal. '(Jorporation -at a sitting , w on the 21et, orders were given'that the nece8sary .ho.-. t>Llrfi'n ... frn-prcgentv.Tthq-prioo of-4mildiug ■ "T

material8 beirig raised more than ten"percent, abovq the ordinary rate, and that the goberna/īnrr.ill.nx of the rieiglvbouring provihcea_.be— in-- — Bti'uc.ted to eend to the capital matB and reeds for provisional 8tructure6. At a meeting of-the-Fx-ecn*frive on thq 25 th, the following mea.sures were adppted Exemption froin duty for sixmonth8, ilniii' that may_.be imported-into thiB porTv-and ; - for the eame term°the materials for repaira of the damaged buildinga ; a f'ree pemnieeien for the eamo term for cutting timber ; thqugh aubject tb intervention by tho Inspector of Fofeflf8." " Manila jm» #on formor peeaeiona 8uffered ae-, verely from earthquakea. Founded in 1570, it waa ' almost destroyed eevonty years later by an earth- . quake whieh cau8cd the 1088 of 300 lives. Mioor vi8itations, not 80 extensive in their effects, brit destroying the loftier edifices— e8pecially the Cathedral— -have, been experienced at irregular in'tervala einee, and in 1863 the city waa again ; aTĒ68t erifrirely de8troyed . The population of fche plkee afc the laet eeneua whieh wae taken. in "" 1873, waa 230,914, of whom two-thirda weje natives, and pearly one-third Ohineee and Ohine8e r-~ half-ca8te8, the Spanieh and other Foreign population numbering leea 5000. < The lateBt eafcimate of the lo88 'througtioufc' the — — . — islaM~orjLuzon by the recent enrth«nittktie ' , ^paehea $15,000,000. . " "'•■•••". • ' ' ' ' v' ® «r „ , / • A. „ . - ' i