The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-12-16
THOUSANDS BURIED ALIVE.
Terrible Features Ofthe Earth.
quake in Japan.
Whole Villages Swept Away and
the Inhabitants Killed.

The cable brought the main outlines Of the
great earthquake in Japan, but the: con-
densed reports gave no idea Of the terrible
features Of the calamity.
The earthquake was strongest In the pre-.
lectures Of Gifu and Aichi, where towns
have been overthrow, the country sub
merged and mountains in eruption and rail.
road communication is interrupted.
Statistics shows 1924 persons killed and
945s wounded, while 10000 houses lave been
destroyed. The greatest destruction
occurred at Gifu. A correspondent there
says that a quarter Of a million people were
made homeless in that prefecture. He adds:
There are twenty-eight places where the
soil sunk more than three feet, the total
acres. Fissures in the ground are also fire.
quent. They vary from one to three feet in
width, and some are fifteen feet deep. l have
counted over 100 large assures, and as for
smaller ones they cannot be reckoned.
1.-THE banks Of the Niagara River are to.
tally destroyed. In one place near the river
there is a subsistence Of over twenty feet.
In some parts Of the town. boiling mud
spouted out Of assures to the height OF ten
feet. The majority Of them continued
spouting for one or two hours. More than
three thousand wells are totally DESTROYED.
"The condition of Kasaoko-Cho after the
earthquake and the c~onfagration was ap-
palling. There were 1850 houses in that dis
trict md over 1000 inhabitants. The shock
overthrow nearly all the houses, and when
the survivors were struggling to rescue the
injured, fire broke out IN all sides.
From the fall Of the houses to the out
burst of the conf1agration there was an in
terval of only twenty minutes. Only twenty
nine houses remained standing when the
flames were extinguished, and 200 people
had been either crushed or burned to death.
In some cases whole families Of eight or nine
persisted. Starving people may be constant
~ seen wandering over the cracked fields in
search Of potatoes, turnips OF any other
edibles. It is a terrible state of affairs"
Not a few persons entombed amid the
ruins Of houses have been roasted to death.
Out Of 200 temples in Gifu, more than ono
third were totally destroyed, and of twenty
five temples in the town OF Ogaki only three
escaped injury. The banks of the Shonai
River in the Kasugai district were thrown
down by the earthquake. and numerous
assures appeared in the ground.
At a distance Of about two and q half
miles from the bridge over this river, where
the ground had been conspicuously dis
turbed, muddy water and stones had been
elected from the assures In such quantities
as to form a kind Of small volcano, on top of
which is a hole from which mud was thrown
out constantly. -
From the commencement Of the distur-
bance up to the time Of despatching the
kilograms there had been no less than 8610
shocks, which means ~thirty-eight shocks per
hour, or more than one every two minutes.
The kilograms give another and increased
statement Of casualties in Alchi prefecture.
The record stands thus at present: Aichi
prefecture, killed, 224S: wounded, 1910;
houses totally destroyed, 1856; houses par
TALLY destroyed, 1878.
The Japan Mail says that of 434 houses
constituting the town of Ogaki 1856 are COM
pletely overthrow and 765 are partially
ruined. Fire has destroyed 1873. The num-
Der Of persons killed is 747; the number Sc
verely injured $40 and the number slightly
injured $50.
. Appalling as is the magnitude of this
calamity, still more terrible is the report
which comes from Gifu prefecture as a
whole. A late telegram gives the number of
killed in the whole prefecture as 5000, the
number Of wounded at 5000, and total
number Of houses destroyed Is, 900 to 16, 600.
In addition to the destruction wrought in
the towns Of Gifu and Ogaki. the smaller
towns of Ichnomiya, Kyosu, Kesomatsa and
~Takegahans a1e said to have been wiped out
altogether. -.