The Sun.
London, England, 1819-11-11 00:00:00

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1819.

DREADFUL EARTEIQUAEE IN INDIA.

(From The Bombay Gazette of July 7.)

We hasten to lay before our Readers a selec-
tion from the numerous communications we have
received respecting this awful visitation. It was
slightly felt at Poonab, and we believe it did not
reach to the southward of that city, or extend
much beyond the tropic.

CAIIIP, BE-100 J, Jorge 19.—At seven o'clock on
the evening of the 16th of. June, an earthquake
destroyed the whole district and country.of Kutch ;.
accounts that have been received mention, -that
_from- Luckput Rustler to Butcbao, the whole of
the towns -and villages are more or less in _ruins.
The towns of Mandaxie, Mooutlria, and Anjar,
have suffered extensively and severely ; but the
city of ilhoOj, and the fort of noojia, between
which our force is encamped, are reduced, the
former to ruins, and the .latter so breached as to
he•useless as a fortification. This, however, is
the least part of the evil: at the moment of the
crash, it is apprehended, and I fear not any way
exaggerated, that. 2,000 of the inhabitants were
buried in the mass.
Even now the effects of this horrible visitation
are felt (though three days since the first shock)
in constant and hourly vibrations of the earth.
The inhabitants hare been obliged to forsake
what were once their halls, and encamp outside
upon some small hills. Their distress cannot be
well described ; bruised, m4imed, and agitated
with tear, they go daily into the city to work
upon their several houses, to try and extricate
the mangled remains of wives, children, and
relations, whilst in their pious labour the pu-
trid stench nearly exhausts them ; cattle which
have fallen in numbers, add greatly to the noi-
some evil. The from the sandy nature
of the stone, are crun►bled in a mass, and the
nartow streets of li'hooj entirely lost, thus
adding to the difficulties of the sufferers. The
upper stones of the palace fell, and buried., amongst
others, the mother of the depOsed Rao : what
houses stand are so shattered as to he liable to
fall in the ruins ; and the very complete wreck of
the wall on the southern side, as well as the de-
molition of neatly all the towers and gateways,
render it impossible for Bhooj to he a city again.
The loss of lives cannot be confined to the city.
I fear, in all the towns and villages, mortality has
been great. lam inclined to think, from.thecir-
eomstance of a volcano having opened on a hill,
30 miles from lihooj, that the country will not
experience a repetition of the evil.

From our camp being in aplain, no very ma-
teri.l damage has been sustained; the tiles-of a
few temporary erected houses were knocked off,
and the walls shattered.

I shall attempt to give you the sensation felt
by those both in camp and city, In the latter, 1
WAS informed by a gentleman, who nearly suf-
fered by a house falling ov,r him, that, riding on
without an idea of what was to happen, upon the
first notice a heavy appalling deadened noise, the
motion of the earth, walls of the houses on each
side of the street tottering and falling outwards,
impressed upon him an idea, and he called out,
that a mine was sprung ;
,%vhereas, another gen-
tleman imagined the bank of the tank was forced
by the water ; these ideas accompanied with an
unpleasant giddineis of the head, and sickness of
stomach, from the heaving of the ground :-
" In one wild roar espied !
" The shatter'd town,—the wall thrown down,
• " The waves a moment backward bent,
"The hill, that shake, although unrent.
" As if an earthquake pass'd."—BYaoN's Siege of Corinth.

. .
In camp a similar sickness a;►d giddiness were
experienced; and in ignorance, until the shock
was over (which lasted a minute), of the nature
of the noise below tl►e earth, some sat down in-
stinctively, cthe►s threw themselves down. One
was paying work-people in a circle, and upon
seeing him squat, the whole followed the example,
and sat round him, " the very picture of despair."
The sensation 1 felt was a giddiness and horror at
perceiving a'small hillock, close to which I was
riding (a short distance from the camp), com-
pletely agitated, and at the same time my horse
plunged, frog► the ground moving. This was the
case also with an officer I was riding with.
1 have on inquiry ascertained that many years
ago, and in the remembrance of the oldest inha-
bitants, an undulating motion has been felt before
in Kutch, but never, I hope, will again be at-
tended with such a horrible catastrophe ; the dis-
tress of which bas been so great upon the inhabi-
tants, that I confess I fall short of ability to de-
scribe it.

'Translation of a Letter from a respectable Na-
tive w a Correspondent at liaroda, dated 18th
June, from lsotia

" I have sent you a letter and given you an
account of every thing that, has occurred here ;
yesterday the 9th of Just. Vud. (the 164) of June)
in the evening, a noise issued from the earth like
the beating of the Nobut, and occasioned the
trembling of all the people; it appeared most won-
deilni, and deprived us all of our senses, so that we
could not see ; every thing appearing dark before
us, .a dizziness came upon many people so that they
fell down. The walls of the fort of Isoria in many
places were completely overturned, and the guns
fell from the bastions ; the inhabitants ran home
to their houses, many of which fell down. For
one hour this remained ; the buildings in the town
some fell,
and the others appeared as if falling ;
the walls of the Fort that remained after the first

.7

shock, appeared-in a ruined state. For an hour and
a half theinhabitants did not know each other; after
that time all was hush and still, and we then return-
ed to our houses ; at- night a trembling seized our
bodies, and on Wednesday morning some horse-
men who arrived, came to me and reported,
that in the fields the earth opened and threw up
water ; to see which I went there, and such was
the case, and the water came up from the earth
in many places, and it appeared like the rushing
of water when drawn from a well ; it remained
all night in the fields, and in three or four places
the earth had given, way, and sunk 100 feet in
depth, which space was filled with water. Many
of the wells which had before this plenty of water
were left empty, and many pools that formerly
were dry-were now filled with water ; the like of
this was never heard or seen before. When 1 re-
turned into. the town, the inhabitants reported
la4-otlrt during my absence the earth again was
sh :'and when I was washing my body after-
Wards, I left -two or three violent shocks again, and
the honk was in was much shaken. Af-
ter this people did not seem willing to remain
ip the town ; I therefore left it,.and encamped
one cuss' off. 1 received accounts from Nowa-
nuggar, that the forts of Lialumho and Aniraw
have fallen down, and some people had died, as
had likewise some cattle : the same has occurred
at Jankaria. I have received the news from the
country round for 16 toss.; and beyond the Run,
at Joo-tiah Blinder, the same has also happened.
"'lbis is the wonderful decree of Almighty
God, which I do not understand. For your in-
formation I have written this small account ; all
that has occurred it is impassible to describe.—
To•day, bet wren }2 and 2 o'clock, the same has
happened. On Wednesday night, some people
assert that the earth was again, shaken. 1 have
this moment received accounts front Morvee, that
the same has occurred there ; that some of the
houses and part of the wails of the fort have fallen,
and the-people have suffered great losses. I do
not know to what extent damage has been done."

CAMP NEAR 111100.1, JUNE 17.—We are at pre-
sent in a shocking state of alarm, Last evening,
between 6 and 7 o'clock, we were visited by a
dreadful earthquake. The wall that surrounded
ilhooj is almost levelled With the ground, anil the
few towers which are left standing are merely
broken remains ; the houses generally unroofed,
others in rains, and most of the large buildings,
including the Rilace, greatly Hared; the wall of
the Hill-fort down iv) many places, and there is
a complete breach near the gateway. The tight of
our cawj rests a short distance the left of the
latter, fronting the town, and extends along the
bottom of the hill to a little beyOnd the large
tower on the south-west.point. lam happy to say
that we have had none materially hurt, four Sepoys
only bruised, who were on duty in the town ; but
I fear that a great many casualties have occurred
among the poor natives ; some hundreds are said
to have lost their lives. There is at present so much
contusion that the numbers cannot be ascertained.

We had several shocks during the night, and they
have continued at intervals this day; the last one
about two hours ago, when I could scarcely keep
upon my legs ; the sensation is horrible while it
lasts. They have suffered, we understand, in the
same way at Aojar.
P.S. Three P. ta. Therels a slight shock at this
moment. I trust in God they-will cease altogether.
EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM A CORRESPONDENT
AT SARODA, DATED JUNE 26.
On tl►e 16th, about 7 o'clock p. m.„ the whole
of the city and around it were thrown into the
greatest consternation, by a very severe shock of
of an earthquake, which continued without hoer-
mission between two and three minutes. I was
at a ft iend's at the time ; we were sitting in his
upper bungaloe, which rocked so violently, 1
really thought it -would have fallen before we
could get below stairs. Thu next morning, about
11 o'clock, we experienced another, though
slighter, convulsion.

On the 18th we felt two more, one at 11 A.M.
and the,other at 12 at night : and on the 20th we
also had two more shocks ; God knows if it is yet
all over. It appears to be going.from the sou►h
to north. At l'allampore it was accompanied by
a noise in the earth just like thunder.

Its ravages at Ahmedabad Ilan been consider-
able. The two large Minarets tear the' Jumah
Museed in that city are overthrown. One of the
gates of the town has Linen down,
.and nearly
300 houses. The fort of Rampoor, near Pull-
garde, is nearly demolished. .

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM ANJAR, DATED JUNCI7.
It is with sincere regret that I have to inft,rn►
you, that this place was visited by an enribquake
yesterday evening, at 10 minutes before 7 o'clock.
The effects of the shock, which lasted nearly two
minutes, have been the levelling of the fort-wall to
the ground ; not 100 yards of the wall remain in
any one spot, and guns, towers, &c., all hurled in
One mass of ruin.

The destruction of the town has been distressing
and awful : not a quarter of the houses are stand-
ing, and those that do remain are all in ruins.—
I cannot yet state the particulars of the losses,
but I may in one word say,' that a flourishing po-
pulation has Been reduced in one moment to
wretchedness and misery. I fear we shalt have to
lament the loss of upwards of 100 people, besides
those hurt.

Reports from the country state similar disasters
in all the villages round about ; and letters from
Bhooj 'inform us, that that fort is mush in the
same condition as Allier. Slight shocks still con-
tinue to be felt, and I shall, on the first leisure
moment, report such particulars as I may be able
to collect.