The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1906-08-18
CITY DESTROYED
BY EARTHQUAKE
Valparaiso, Chile, Shaken to Pieces.
Repetition Of San Francisco Dis.
aster---Fires Rage--Many
Dead.
New York, Aug. 18.-The Herald
today pr ints the followiug:

New York, Aug. 18-The Herald
today prints the following:
Valparaiso. Chile. Friday. via Gal.
weston, Tex s.-Without the slightest
tremor or warning an earthquake
visited this city at o clock last Digbr,
briging death to hundreds of persons
and leaving many hundreds more i'm.
prisoned III tie ruins. many of who
were burned to death before aid could
reach them. Fire started i'm Mediate
iy after the first shook and every
branch OF the city's service was para.
lized. Panic aud CONSERVATION, in
describable followed, and those who
escaped death and, injury became
frenized with fear and could rendsr
little assistance to the victims
The business section OF the city Is
almost entirely destroyed and fires
are still raging. We are suffering
here repetition of the horrors OF San
Fianclsco. AS night comes on the
city is everywhere aglow with unobs-
tructed fires. and clouds of smoke and
vapor settle ih the streets where
shrongs of homeless ones are swHneer-
ing about ,crnzed By the awful calam-
ity.
1t is almost impossible to assertsin
how wide an area of country the visi-
satiou.has lai1 waste. Nothing has
been heard from Santiago, the capital
city of Chile, and 1t is feared that the
fate of this city is as bad or worse
than that of Valparaiso
Telegraphic communication is cut
off in all directions and everyone here
is too much depressed by the calamity
at home to seek information il otner
places. No trains have arrived in the
city or l. fit it since the great shock
came as all of the railroad runEels are
nIed and miles of track are twisted
and rendered useless. 1t is only
known from general accounts that
death and destruction are on al! side.
There were two dislisct shocks, the
second ona following almost Instantly
after the first and completing the
work of destruction. The day had
been unusually calm aud pleasant. at
O'Clock the whole city seemed sud
denly to swing backward and forward,
and there came sudden jolt of such
mighty force that rows of buildings
toppled to the earth as il made of
brittle plaster. Whole rows of build
irgs were down il a few minutes
AS soon as the second shock had
subsided il became known that the
business part of the town swass doomed.
From the Bella Vista section little
was heard, but before midnight fires
were seen burning there, and il was
learned that that section of the city
also was doomed. TIE city ltands
upon a foundation of granite sneIss.
which seemed to accentuare th 3 force
of the shock.
Before the stunned people were
given time to realize the magnitude of
the calamity again the city was shaken
with violence CRATER than before.
The earth in places lifted ana pitched
the buildings forward In other pla-
cases there was teri ible rremor that
shook every structure to the ground.
This continuen longer than the first.
When it subsl1ed fires were blazing up
and thousands of terrified persons
were praying, and panic swept the
city. ~.
Many landslides have occurred
around the city and scores of lives
have been lost.
It has laid waste the best part of
the. business portion OF the city and
has doubtless put Chile back many
years in the scale CT CIVILIZATION.