Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1875-07-31
THE GREAT CALAMITIES.
The EARTHQUAKES In South America and the
Floods In France.

The EARTHQUAKES In south America and the
Floods In France.
In addition TO the large number of
accidents for which men are immediate
ly responsible, this year will be memoir
able for its great disasters by flood and
earthquake. There have been destruc-
tive foundations in many portions of
Europe, and terrestrial disturbances in
Asia and South America have been more
frightful and widespread than any known
In late years. The earthquake of May
l6, IL, and Is shook q considerable
range of country lying on the line be-
tween Venezuela and Colombia. A group
OF towns scattered through the valleys
of San Cristrobal and San Jose de Gu.
cuta, south of Lake Maracaibo and
along the base of a spur of the Andean
chain, were utterly demolished. Nine
of these towns were in Venezuela, chief.
ly In the department of Merida; and
ten were in Colombia, in the States of
Santander and Pomplona. Some of
these villages were small, but the total
loss of life must be enormous, one esti-
mate placing it as high as $4,000. In
one village, for example, only six per-
sons escaped with their lives. The loss
of property is also variously estimated;
but the destruction wrought at Cucuta,
where the earthquake seems to have
been most terrible, was frightful. The
entire town was brought down in ruin,
property to the value of $1,000, 900
being wiped out of existence. The
earthquake was series of constant
shakings for three days, with some in
termissions, and terminating with the
tremendous crash which came on the
18th of May, when villages were tum-
bled down as one might shake down q
house CT cards set on dining table, by
jar of the furniture. So violent were
these shocks that the inhabitants were
obliged to liz, upon the ground and grasp
some object, to prevent being knocked
over. When we reflect that an earth
quake leaves the inhabitants of the
smitten region no refuge, no place where
they can flee for safety, we may have q
faint conception of the terrors of that
dreadful calamity in South America.
Fire broke out in some of the ruined
towns; unburied bodies remainedamong
the ruins to poison the air with animal
decay, and brigands seized the occasion
in the general dismay to plumber and
loot the abandoned houses and stores.
Although we have no official estimate
of the loss of life by the floods in south
ern France, it is not likely that SO many
persons have persisted in those disas-
trous foundations as by the South
American earthquakes. A late telegram
says that it is officially announced in
Paris that the original estimates were
exaggerated, and that only two hundred
and fifteen bodies have been recovered
at Toulouse, where the greatest loss of
life was supposed to have occurred. The
destruction of property, however, is very
great, and considering the extent of
country ravaged, the effects of such q
disaster must long be felt by the unfor-
tunate inhabitants. The Garonne, rising
in the Pyrenees, sweeps rapidly through
the department of Haute Garonne, in
broad but somewhat shallow stream,
with flat valley lands on either side.
The warning given to the people along
the banks could not have been sufficient.
Indeed, the accounts published indicate
that the inhabitants were surprised as by
thief in the night We read of travel
ing actors found drowned with their tin
sci robes on them; of families suddenly
driven to the roofs of their dwellings
where they miserably persisted, and of
workmen overwhelmed by the floods
before they could escape. Though q
food is, as men say, can act of God,"
human foresight might have prevented
some Of this loss of life.
The countries desolated by both these
great calamities are peopled by those
who have small security prepared for the
future. In both cases their present
means of subsistence are gone. Thou
sands of families are left penniless, and
without help from abroad, they must
starye. The violence of the floods in
the Garonne destroyed substantial dwell
ings that had withstood the wear of many
years. 1t will be long before these will
be replaced, or before habitable shelters
can be made available. Nineteen towns
and villages destroyed in South America
leaves huge scar ON the surface of the
country. Such vast disaster entails
misery and depression in region here
tofore fruitful and blessed with ordinary
comfort. These calamities have fallen
upon people whose woes appeal to the
civilized world. 1t is not possible that
their cry for help will be raised in vain.
-NeaO York Times.