The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-22 00:00:00

The Earthquake in the Levant.

The Malta limes of the 14th inst. states that the
recent earthquake has been felt at Smyrna, Mag-
nesia, Adramitti, Aivali, the Dardanelles, Gallipoli,
Constantinople, and the neighbouring country. At
Adramitti the ground continued to shake on the
morning of the Bth. The terrified population were
dispersed on the surrounding heights. Some had
fled to the seashore, ready to cast themselves into
the sea shoald there be more shocks. At Smyrna
the first shock occurred, according to the impartial
de Smyrne, at seven minutes past six in the evening
of the 7th inst. It was very violent, and lasted 30
seconds. The oscillations were from north to south.
Five minutes afterwards another shock seemed to
move the earth to its very foundations, and struck
terror into the minds of the inhabitants. The oscil-
lations were in the same direction as before. Some
slight shocks followed during the night and at dawn,
and at 10 o'clock of the night of the Bth another
shockwas felt, which caused much alarm. This was
succeeded, at 5 o'clock in the morning of the 9th
inst. by one still more violent ; but, happily, we
do not learn of any injury having been occasioned
to the town of Smyrna. The Levant Herald of the
13th inst. publishes the following letter from Myte-
lene :—" March 9th.—On Thursday, the 6th, the
weather had been close and unwholesomely hot ;
but, as this is generally the case with the south
wind, which had been blowing for some
time, nothing was thought of it—least of all
was there any fear of what followed. Though
volcanic, as is proved by the numerous hot springs,
the island had not during the present generation
been visited by earthquake ; it was now, how-
ever, to have a terrible experience of the pheno-
menon. Abeut 6 p.m. a sharp shock, lasting some
15 or 18 seconds, vibrated throughout the town, and
before the fact was well realised was followed by
a second, longer and much more violent. I hap-
pened at the moment to be down at the pier of the
Austrian Lloyd's agency, and nearly half a minute
before the shock was felt on shore saw the sea heave
and foam out in the port as if a submarine explosion
bad taken place. Little time, however, was left for
surprise. In much less time than I take to write it
the double thrill quivered through the town, and,
reeling like drunken men, whole blocks of solid stone
houses collapsed as if they had been cardhouses.
The offices of the agency and nearly all adjoining
buildings, including the Custom-house, Light-house
office, and large oil-mill, thus fell. In the town entire
streets similarly crumbled, burying their inhabitants
by hundreds in the ruins. The fine old castle, the
cathedral, the Governor's konak, the prison, the
mosques, and, I believe, all the Consular residences
more or less yielded to the violence of the shock, and
are for the most part mere heaps of ruins. The very
solidity with which the town was built has aggra-
vated the disastrous effects of the calamity a
hundredfold, both as regarded the loss of and de-
struction of property. The most complete ruin has
fallen upon the lower part of the town, where the
earth literally opened and swallowed a broad belt
of building right up from the sea to the slope island.
At this point a permanent subsidence of the ground
has taken place, and the sea has accordingly en-
croached far into what on Thursday afternoon was
one of the busiest parts of Mytelene. In fact, •to
sum up the disaster, more than half of our beautiful
town—the prettiest and most lively, perhaps, in all
the Levant—is a desert of ruins. The worst part
of the calamity is, of course, the loss of life. As yet
we can only guess at the extent of this ; but it is
thought that from 800 to 1,000 have perished, and
as many more maimed and wounded. Up till to-
day 120 bodies have, I hear, been dug out of the
safer ruins, but how many may be buried under
others which are too dangerous to be approached
can only be surmised. Such of the houses as are
still standing have all been abandoned, and the whole
surviving population is now scattered over the hill
sides and among the gardens outside the town—a
few of them under such covers as thby have been
able to improvise, and the rest bivouacking without
shelter of any kind. Any attempt to describe the
scene would be useless. Heartrending grief, panic,
and confusion met the eye on every side. Already
the want of provisions is aggravating the distress,
and only a supply from Smyrna or the capital can
avert additional loss of life. One of the Austrian
LlYod's steamers and a French gunboat from Smyrna
have landed a quantity of biscuit and some other
stores, but in all not perhaps more than a day's food
for the place. It is earnestly to be hoped that the
Porte will at once send down tents, biscuits, and
whatever other stores can be quickest got together.
But not the town of Mytelene alone has suffered
from this great calamity ; it has scattered ruin and
death throughout the whole northern part of the island.
Hardly a village has escaped, and not merely pro-
perty but life has been destroyed in nearly the
whole. Molivo has been all but entirely demolished,
and several hundreds of its 6,000 or 7,000 inhabi-
tants have, it is said, perished in the ruins. It is,
in fact, no exaggeration to say that half the island
has been laid waste, with a sacrifice of human life
that may be reckoned by thousands. No such dis-
aster has ever befallen Mytelnee."

The Queen, with her Royal Highness Princess
Louise, and attended by the ladies and gentlemen
of the royal suite, is expected to leave Windsor
Castle this afternoon on a visit to the Prince -and
Princess of Wales. Her Majesty will probably stay
at Buokinghwu r 41400 for the night.