The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-04-09 00:00:00

THE EARTHQUAKE AT CHIO.

A severe shock of earthquake occurred on Sunday
at Chio, by which nearly the whole town and many
neighbouring village were destroyed. A large number
of the inhabitants have been killed or injured, and the
remainder are now encamped for safety in the fields.
Shocks were also felt at Syra and Smyrna, but no
damage was done.

CONSTANTINOPLE, April 4.

Fresh shocks of earthquake have occurred at Ohio
to-day, and the inhabitants are taking refuge on board
the steamers in the harbour. .

The Governor, Sadik Pasha, accompanied' by some
officials, has left the town, and arrived to-day at
Tchesme.
The Sultan has sent help to the sufferers from the
earthquake at Chia. The number of victims is esti-
mated at 3,000.

A.THENS, April 4.

The despatch received by the Greek Government
concerning the destructive earthquake at Chio yester-
day afternoon states that it effects were also felt at
Tchesine, and that the number of people killed and
injured by the catastrophe is estimated at 3,000. The
shock was also felt at Carosto, Eubcea, Thins, and
Syra. At the last-named place one house fell.
ZANTE, April 5.

Shocks of earthquake were felt here at two o'clock
yesterday afternoon and one o'clock .this morning.
Both were of prolonged duration, but not sufficiently
severe to do any damage. Since the first shock a
strong southerly gale has prevailed here.

APRIL 5.

The latest intelligence from Chio proves that the
disaster is even greater than was at first supposed.
Bastro, the chief town of the island, containing about
GOO stone houses, is described as almost in ruins. The
population, who are fearing new shocks' are en-
camped in the surrounding fields. About 400 dead
bodies have been already found, and it is believed that
a much larger number still remain buried under the
ruins. Other towns and villages on the island and
several on the mainland, opposite, in all about 30
have likewise suffered, and as far as Smyrna the
shocks were distinctly felt.
On receiving the intelligence the Sultan was deeply
moved, and gave orders that energetic measures should
be immediately taken to alleviate as far as possible the
sufferings of the survivors.
Midhat Pasha, the Governor of the Smyrna Vilayet,
and Sandyk Pasha, the Governor of the Archipelago,
are actively superintending the operations for ex-
tracting the dead bodies and providing food for the
destitute, whose number, it is said, amount to
40,000.
By the express orders of His Majesty, a steamer
was despatched from the Golden Horn last night with
provisions, surgical appliances, and a medical staff. A.
steamer, with a similar cargo, will be despatched to-
day from Smyrna, where a relief committee has been
formed.

CONSTANTINOPLE. April 6.

Accounts from Chios represent the results of the
earthquake as even more appalling than was at first
supposed. The number of killed is now estimated at
5,000. Shocks continue to be felt, and a continuous
rumbling is heard in the interior of the earth. All the
foreign ships of war stationed at Smyrna have left for
Chios, and General Longstreet, the United States
Minister, has ordered the corvette Galena to proceed
thither with succour for the unfortunate sufferers.

In a leader noticing the above earthquake, The
Times remarks :

The disastrous earthquake at Chio follows so closely upon
those which lately wrought so much havoc at Agram and in
the island of Ischia, that it seems probable that the eastern
basin of the Mediterranean is passing through one of those
periods of volcanic or, as the new phrase runs, " seismic "
disturbance which have been its bane ever since history began.
Our knowledge of the nature and causes of these terrible visi-
tations is as yet quite empirical, but two facts appear to be esta-
blished—that there are certain spots on the earth's surface
where the earth-wave recurs with more frequency and greater
violence than elsewhere, and that when the disturbances
come they are not isolated, but in some sense continuous.
As the West Indies have their plague in the form of the
hurricane, so the earthquake appears to belong almost ex-
clusively to the region of the Andes, the Eastern Archipe-
lago, and the Mediterranean shores. An earthquake in
Europe is generally an altogether milder affair than an
earthquake in Fern, but it may spread frightful destruction
notwithstanding. Every one can call to mind numerous oc-
casions on which that fair region from which our civiliza-
tion springs has been cruelly visited by this scourge.
From pre-historic times there come the traditions of
floods and fiery showers and suddenly-opened chasms.
Classical history tells of such disasters as the ruin
of twelve cities of Asia in the reign of Tiberius, when Sardis
and eleven of her wealthy neighbours were laid low in a
moment of time. A few years later came the volcanic dis-
turbances in Southern Italy, when Vesuvius, which had been
quiescent for centuries, begat( that career of activity which
still continues. The Monte Nuovo, near Naples, which was
thrown up in a night in the seventeenth century, is a stand-
ing witness to the force and suddenness of these mysterious
movements of the earth's crust, and of the danger to which
the coast towns and islands of the Mediterranean are con-
stantly exposed. These two recent events—the destruction
of the beautiful little town of Casamicciola a few weeks ago
and the still more wholesale ruin just wrought at Chio—are
painful evidencib of the same kind.

The Daily News remarks :—" The Chian earthquake ap-
pears to have been one of the most ruinous of the last thir-
teen years. In 1868 Arequipa, Iquique, Tacna, and many
other towns in Peru and Ecuador perished—twenty-five
thousand lives are said to have been lost, and the property
destroyed probably exceeded the total value, at thirty years'
purchase, of the Island of Chios. In 1875 there was a bad
earthquake at Smyrna, and Mitylene suffered terribly in
1867. The isles of the Greek seas appear uncommonly
exposed to these calamities. Their singular formation
and distribution look as if they had been scattered frag-
ments of an old continent, or had been thrust up by volcanic
forces, like Delos in the ancient legend, to be the birthplace
of Artemis and Apollo. Thirteen villages were destroyed in
Rhodes in 1863, and the town of Santa Alaura, one of the
lonian isles, was overthrown in 1869. The wave of disturb-
ance seems to have passed from Western Europe, as Por-
tugal, to the shores of the Levant. Earthquakes seem tohave
a period of activity and then to relapse into repose. Between
1750 and 1760 was a time of extraordinary disturbance—
Port-au-Prince was ruined ; 40,000 people were swallowed
up at Cairo; Quito was destroyed: 40,000 people were
engulfed at Kaschan, in Persia ; the terrible earthquake of
Lisbon shook cities down in Southern Europe, and over-
threw the very early optimism of Goethe. We are fortunate
in possessing a home where a slight rattle in the crockery
is worth recording, and where a very young earthquake,'
as Byron puts it, causes immense public excitement,"

The island of Ohio, Scio, or Skio, for the name is
thus variously spelt, is situated in the dEgean Sea,
separated from the coast of Anatolia by a channel not
more than seven miles wide where narrowest, and
about 53 miles west of Smyrna. The island is the
ancient Chios, and contends with many other places
for the honour of having given birth to Homer, an
excavation in the rock being pointed out as the
place where the blind poet is said to have taught.
At present it forms part of Asiatic Turkey. It is of
somewhat quadrangular form, 32 miles long from north
to south, with a mean breadth of about 12 miles, and
an area of 296 geographical square miles. The surface
of the country is generally covered with limestone
ridges, separated from each other by verdant and
fertile valleys. There are no perennial streams,
but an abundant supply of water is obtained
from numerous large wells, and in this way con-
stant verdure is maintained, and valuable crops
are raised. The principal products are wine, oil,
cotton, silks and, more especially, mastic, which
may be considered as the staple of the island. The
trade of Ohio is chiefly dried fruits, preserves, cattle,
and salt. The population is between 60,000 and
70,000, of whom the larger proportion are Turks, the
capital, also Chio ,containing about one-fourth of the
whole number of the inhabitants. This town is
situated near the middle of the east coast, and consists
for the most part of houses built of hewn stone or
brick, and generally with terraced roofs. It is de-
fended by a castle.