The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-09-11 00:00:00

THE EARTHQUAKE IN THE
PHILIPPINES.

Under date Manila, July 20, a correspondent writes
to a contemporary :—" Upon this beautiful city, the
capital of the Philippines, a calamity has fallen which
for the fourth time in the present century leaves it
reduced in many parts to a condition of absolute ruin.
It is now sixty hours since that the shock of a terrific
earthquake, which lasted about two minutes, com-
pletely wrecked the finest buildings in the city. Large
numbers of houses came bodily to the ground, and
hardly one dwelling in a place of 100,000 inhabitants
escaped without serious damage. There was little
warning, except that the first movements were less
violent than the culminating horror. The sensa-
tion was awful; the earth rocked and heaved as if
the whole frame of nature was convulsed. It was
Sunday, and happily the time was mid-day, or the
death roll in this ancient, but heavily built city must
have been immense. There was, first of all, a spasmodic
shock twice repeated, which sent the populace trem-
bling into the streets. The ground under foot then
began to rock violently, swaying up and down as
though the city must inevitably be engulphed. The
commotion in the bay and the harbour was the sanixe
as on land, for the water literally seethed, and the big
ships swayed to and fro like a drunken man.' For
hardly an hour together since that time has the
vibration been altogether absent. Shocks in the
night, as well as the day, have brought the populace
to a state of utter terror. The tall houses are empty,
their late occupants having taken refuge in mat-huts,
or under zinc roofs. The people dare not walk
through the streets for fear of the falling debris.
The towers of the great cathedral, !as well as the
whole fabric of the church of San Sebastian, have
fallen, and portions of several other of the many fine
churches in the city are wrecked. In one instwice
the priests were compelled to take refuge for the night
in their garden. The roofs of the Royal Barracks also
fell in, and the soldiers were bivouacked for the night
in the rice fields. In the midst of such widespread
destruction, human life was miraculously spared.
There are hundreds of cases of serious injury, it is
said, but only ten or twelve people have been killed
outright up to the present time. The only European
injured is a Mr. Parker, the book-keeper to the Ame-
rican firm Peel, Hubbell, and Co., but he is in
a very precarious state, with one arm almost severed
from the body and his head broken.
One of the strangest features of his disastrous event
sensationwa' s the eoffne c
bt
ooafr hseh
ship,
rthqi us aska own
atshteh
es e
saa. m
eT haes
when a vessel bumbs in taking the ground. A large
three-masted vessel which was wrecked some time ago
in the bay and lay with only the mast visible, was
lifted bodily in the water, and the concussion detached
one of her masts. After the disturbance had ceased
the vessel was lying so that part of her hull was visi-
ble, and this is still the case. It is the fact, perhaps, that
the bottom of the bay has been raised and the water
shallowed. The water in the river rose several feet,
and appeared to boil. The ground also opened in
places and belched up water."