Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-06-20
AGENTS OF DESTRUCTION.
Earthquakes, Floods and Fires-Terrible
Loss of Life from the Former.

Earthquakes, Floods and Fires-Terrible
Loss of Life from the Former.
In the dreadful presence of the Johns
town horror W. seem to face the direst
catastrophe of modern times. Awful to
contemplate as it is, it is unfortunately not
the conspicuous exception in the catalogue
of disasters that have overwhelmed thou
sands at remarkably numerous periods of
history not by any means ancient The
comparatively frequent floods in China,
when the mad river leaps bounds, are
generally attended with frightful loss of
life, owing the great density of population.
At the time of the last food there, within
two years, the extent of the reported
drowned seemed fabulous; but any one
provided with a book of dates may be
astonished by the number of calamities
surprising in the destruction of human
life the Johnstown deluge.
The greatest danger, however, has not
been from rampages of water, except with
people dependent upon bikes for their Sc
curity. Though there have been in
Vulnerable foundations in which inesti-
mable property has been destroyed, the
average loss of life has been moderate COM
pared with the victims of earthquakes.
Among the multitudinous earthquakes of
modern times, gloomy interest may be
felt IN the record of the most conspicuous.
In their chronological order they were as
follows
December 5, 1456, at Naples, 10000
persons were destroyed December 26,
1881, at Lisbon, 10000; July ., in Japan,
several cities and thousands of lives de-
stroyed; July 50, 1926, at Naples, 10000;
April &, 1867, at Ragusa, 5000; during
three months 1867, at Schamaki, $4,000;
in September 1898, in Sicily, 100000; in
1908, at Jeddo, 2OO,O00 May and June,
ZIG, at Algiers, $4,000; November so,
1871, at Pekin, 100000; October %, 1746,
at Lima and Callao, $4,000; September,
1854, at Grand Cairo, 10000; June 7, 1855;
at Kashan, Persia, 10000; November l,
1755, at Lisbon, $4,000; February /, 1877.
in the country lying between Santa Fe
and Panama, 10000; August IA, 1851, at
Melt, Italy, $4,000; December Is, 1857, at
Calabria, 10000; March 20, 1860, at Men
doza, South America, 1000; August IS and
-, 1868, in Peru and Ecuador, 25,0OO.
Among the most destructive foundations
are those in April II, l421, when the sea
broke over bort, drowning 100000 people;
in 1880, when Holland was overwhelmed
and 100000 persons drowned, and in 1917,
when $4,000 were drowned in Catalonia.
There have been numerous floods in which
as many as 1000 persons were drowned,
and those in which the loss of life was less
are beyond record
Fires have been fatal to large numbers
at times, but have been more ifurtfnl in
working restitution upon masses than in.
the actual destruction of life During the
London fire of 1919 there were 5000 lives
lost, but that was through the drowning of
the crowd driven into the water. Fhe
forest fires of October, 1871, burning in
Michigan and Wisconsin were perhaps the
most destructive of life in history, 1000
lives being lost. In the great Chicago fire
of the same time there were but 200 lives
reported lost, though it was impossible to
ascertain whether that was the maximum
figure. Losses of from ten to 100 lives
have been only too numerous, and the
burning Of the famous Ring Theater was
the most fatal among the many theater
calamities. Floods and earthquakes are
the principal material agents of destruc-
ton against which man is unable surely to
fortify himself. They have been the chief
evils of all history except the Asiatic cpl
denies which have swept over portions of
the earth at very great intervals. In this
country, however, only the horrors of war
have equaled the appalling force of the
Johnstown event.