The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-17 00:00:00

THE EARTHQUAKE A 7 MENDOZA.

The following is an extract from a letter from
Valparaiso :

" Valparaiso, April 16, 1861.
" On the 20th of March I was, in company with
several others, sitting in a large room in the port,
when, about a quarter to nine, a shock of an earth-
quake came on, accompanied by more noise than
I ever heard before.

" The movement was gentle, and lasted fully
two minutes. The vibration of the ground was
very marked, and it was not easy to move from
our chairs. As a matter of course, we all ran out,
but shortly returned, and continued our business.
The shock, of which we had only felt the outer
wave, had destroyed a city and buried 8,000 of its
inhabitants beneath its ruins.

" The city of Mendoza, situated close to the
eastern slope of the Cordelleras, was reduced to a
mass of ruins ; not a house, a church, nor even a
shed, remained standing.
" On the morning of the 23d the news reached
us ; at first it was not believed, or was considered
to be greatly exaggerated, but succeeding messages
confirmed the dreadful tidings. The city of Men-
doza Ras destroyed, and two-thirds of its inhabi-
tants lay entombed beneath where it once stood.
The Chilian Government at once sent medical men,
tents, and provisions. They also made an appeal
to the charity of the country on behalf of their Ar-
gentine brothers, which, however, was hardly
necessary ; every man's purse was in his hand,
and long before a week was over a further supply
of assistance was on the road. In Valparaiso
alone 24,000 doll. were subscribed. One of the first
to offer his services was Dr. Leahy, of the British
ship Nereus ; his offer was at once accepted, and he
accompanied the Government doctors.
Letters from him and others have been published
in the papers; they say the reality of horrors far
exceeds any description, however highly coloured it
may seem.

At 15 minutes to 9 o'clock p.m., on the 20th of
March, a flourishing city was in existence, which
only one minute later was a heap of ruins, nowhere
more than six feet from the ground ; and out of a
population of 12,000 in one minute 10,000 were
buried, some 2,000 of whom have since been rescued
from their living graves, all more or loss hurt. Of
those not actually buried, at least 1,500 were in-
jured by the falling of walls, tiles, &c. To add to
the horrors of the night, a fire broke out among the
ruins of one of the largest buildings in the heart
of the city, and at least 600 unhappy wretches were
burnt alive, but their sufferings must have been
short compared with the agonies of those who were
suffering a living death beneath the ruins, many
ho,•;ym boon taken out alive even after boing buried
for 16 days. Dr. Leahy writes, though accustomed
to the sight of suffering, he can hardly bear up,
surrounded as he is with so much misery. They
had only been there two days when he wrote, and
had alread 500 patients in their temporary hospital
(composed of canvas and boards), all so bad as to be
difficult to know which to attend to first; broken.
arms and legs were the least misfortunes ; terrible
crushed wounds, already festering, broken limbs
that had to be re-broken to be set, poor wretches
with broken backs, but still alive, and this in
the midst of, and surrounded by, the stench of the
thousands of bodies beneath the ruins. The country
people came pouring in with mattocks and shovels,
but not to save—no, to turn over the ruins in search
of booty.
" This earthquake is probably the worst on re-
cord; never was destruction so complete. The very
heart of she shock seems to have been in the town
itself, as the places round about, although much
shaken, have not suffered much in comparison. It
is reported that a volcano has broken out a few
leagues from Mendoza. Earthquakes are frequently
felt here, but it is 100 years since anything has been
felt on the other side of the Cordilleras, and it was
considered that no earthquake would pass the
mountain. For some years past the shocks have
been very light, and comparatively rase, even on
this side ; so it may he possible the subterranean
fires have taken a new direction, and for the future
we may here be free from these awful visitations.
Although many here, especially new arrivals, affect
an indifference, all who experienced the shock of
1851 must feel an indescribable dread at the recur-
rence of even a slight earthquake; the uncertainty
of its extent, the rolling about of the before solid
earth like a broken sea, produce in you a feeling
which is anything but pleasurable.
"I am happy to tell you
sadat bur countrymenoccasion. The
have been very liberal on thit
hoins subscribed ,:
3,800 dole. ;
chapel, 1,000 dols the Independent
Chapel, 790 dols., besides
the
eglish Episcopalco commercial rcial
many.;
private subscrip-
tions from th,e --heads of houses and others."