The San Francisco call., 1896-07-09

recent tidal wave. There we're 14,97o people
killed and 1886 houses destroyed by the
wave in the Miyas Gi prefecture, and in
the Iwate prefecture %, 1s6 perished, while
1914 were injured and 5000 houses de-
stroyed, making a total in the two pre-
lectures of 81, 156 killed, 1914 injured, and
9616 houses destroyed.
The number of deaths in the Aomori
prefecture is not known yet In the
Miyagi prefecture the villages of Shlzu-
kawa. Otani, Otatsa and Karakuwa suf-
fered most from the wave. In Iwate pre-
lecture. Kisen-Numa. Sakari. Kamaishi
and Kuii were most damaged. In Aomori
prefecture, Minatok, Hachinohe and
Miyako were severely damaged.
A dispatch to the Yomiura from Morika,
dated June 20, states that over $1,000 peo-
pie were either killed or injured by the
recent calamitous wave. Over 500 koku of
rice were sent from Hakodate to various
places for the survivors, who were on the
verge of starvation. In Kesen district of
Iwate one town and eleven villages were
destroyed, while 5000 persons perished and
1400 houses were swept away. In the
Minami Hei district three towns and eight
villages were overwhelmed; 5627 persons
were drowned, 3S2 were injured and 1896
houses were destroyed. A full investiga-
ton will probably double these figures.
In Awomorie prefecture 300 persons per-
ishe d, 143 were injured, Is houses were
destroyed and 4s0 schools demolished.
Over $50 bodies were cast ashore on an
island five miles distant from Kamaishi.
The following figures refer to the Kesen
district: Six thousand and nine dead, 313
injured, 3518 houses destroyed. The Nlchi
Nichi states that the survivors of the re-
cent disaster are subsisting on fish washed
ashore by the wave. They are compelled
to eat them raw, having no cooking ap-
purtenances. The ships Daisan Choan,
Maru, Kaijo, Myozin and Komplra, which
were in Kamaishi harbor on the night of
Monday, were left by the wave, almost un-
injured inland among the fields.
The visitation will probably be remem-
bered as the most extensive of its K ind
since 1854. when the provinces of Suruga.
Totomi. Mikawa Iga, Ise Settsu, Harma,
Ava, Sanulzi, Iyo and Tosa were swept by
huge waves in November. The wave orig
mated not far from the Japanese coast
probably in an extensive displacement of
the seabed on the southwestern edge of
Tuscarora Deep, and it appears to have
visited over 300 miles of coast line. Even
4
most southetly limit of the ravages ap-
pears to have been just a little north of the
famous archipelago of Matsushima. Had
the wave impinged upon the coast south
OF Kinkasan it would have worked ruin
among the town and villages such as
Ishinomaki, Shiogama, Nobiru and 9TH
ers. But 1t missed the promontory and
began its devastation with the villages of
Onagawa and Okachi, situated across the
neck of the peninsula. Thence TO the
northward its ravages may be traced by
reports that have come from Kesen-
Nurna, Hamisho and other towns and
hamlets.
Kesen-Numa has hilly peninsulas, a ford
like coast, with mountain ridges leading
down to it. The harbors are stated to be
the finest in Japan. The fishing industry
is large. This is the region that has been
laid waste.
Japanese papers have many theories as
to the cause of the sudden ocean dis
turbance. Some suggested that volcanic
eruption had taken place far out in the
Pacific. Another theory is that q huge
cave-in occurred in the southern part of
the great deep, beginning off Ishinomaki
and stretching over 700 miles northward
and eastward.
A Hachinohe telegram states that many
bodies and wrecked houses were ashore in
the Kemikita district of the Komorito
prefecture, from which the conclusion is
drawn that the wave travelled southeast
and northwest. The Jill says, referring
specially to the Motoyoshi district, that
though the bodies recovered were only
five or six hours in the water they looked
as if they had been tossed by the waves
for several weeks. The bodies were laid
in heaps, In many cases with nothing to
cover them. A telegram from Kar,aishi
states that only 1000 out of population
of $500 were saved at that place. Those
who escaped were more or less injured.
The medical assistance was insufficient
The wave reached height of eighty feet
in the Iwate prefecture.
Able 81. ]. Z. Rispal, the French mis-
sionary, saw those drowned at Kamaishi.
He stated that a great many Japanese
fishing boats had been destroyed by the
wave. No damage to European vessels
has been reported. The Oshirohma and
Yoshima post and telegraph offices with
their officers and families were swept
away.