The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1868-09-13
The Terrible Earthquakes i'm South
America.

On the afternoon of August IL the west
the most terrible earthquakes ever felt in that
latitude. The most powerful shock took
place at about fifteen minutes past five clock,
and lasted from four minutes in some places
to nine minutes in others. For over four
days this .quaking of the earth was repeated
at intervals. In the space of about five min
utes the beautiful city of Arequipa was wrapt
in darkness aud clouds of dust and laid in
ruins The Jesuits' church was scattered over
space of one hundred yards About four
hundred persons were killed, while all the
inhabitants lost their entire property. The
towns Of the interior back of Arequipa met
with q like fate, and one of the Chilean mails
was buried on the road near Lloque. Up to
August l6 seventy-sx severe shocks were
felt in that part of Peru, and all the
population had to leave the cities and towns to
find places of safety. Meanwhile Mount MIST
was vomiting lava, stones and mud over the
surrounding country The northern side of
the crater had broken and fallen outward.
The cities of Moquegua, Chala, Iquique Locum-
ba, Pisagua, Pisco, Islay and Tacna are little
quake was accompanied by great sea bore,
thirty feet in height, which cast the American
storeship Fredonia on q reef, totally destroy
ing the vessel and drowning her officers and
crew. The Wateree was carried high and dry
half mile inland where she lies embedded
l..4.
America and several foreign merchantmen
were destroyed
In Ecuador the provinces Of Pachincha and
Imbabura suffered fearfully. The towns of
Ibavia, San Pablo, Atuntaqui and Imantad are
ruined. The site of Cotacachi is now lake.
In Quito the loss Of life is not so great as else
where, but the estimated loss in the State is
reported at thirty thousand souls. In
Chile the shocks are known to have
made like havoc as far south
to ascertain the full extent of this dreadful
earthquake which agitated the Pacific Ocean
to such an extent that great tidal wave over
whelmed the port of San Pedro and other ports
in California at the same time as the ports on
he west coast of South America.
So far as heard from twenty towns are
known to have been destroyed, thirty-two
thousand lives lost and about three hundred
| millions Of dollars worth of property de-
stroyed The direction Of the shocks was
from north to south, and the fact that travellers
from Bolivia to Tacna, in Peru, did not notice
ii until near the Andes passes leads to the
belief that the copvulsion ran along the Andes
range. Thus far only few of the volcanoes
of that range have been reported as active,
and these in the neghborhood of Arequipa,
which is regarded as near the focus of the
earthquakes, but later details will probably
show more to be in state of eruption.
The South American earthquake will take
rank among the most dreadful commissions Of
| modern times. When all the details are
known it may be found to have been more dis
astrous than that at Lisbon on November I, 1866,
when sixty thousand people were killed and the
city laid in ruins. The present century has
proved prolific In such commissions of nature.
La 1911 the western part Of this country was