The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1906-09-05
EARTHQUAKE RECORD
The History of Seismic Shocks
Shows Awful Loss of Life.

corded Annually by Japanese Sells
biological SOciety-HOw They Vary
In Character-Some Start Under Sea.
The Great Lisbon Disaster.
The total number of earthquakes of
which historic record has been kept
reaches the enormous figure of 131 ,29S,
although the records were very incom-
plete until recent years. Data con-
corning all shocks, even the insig-
nifcant earth disturbances, are now
being preserved, however, by scientific
societies In all civilized countries of the
world and accurate observations being
taken for the use Of future students of
the earthquake subject.
Earthquakes have been one of the
most terrible enemies Of man in all
times, and the number of persons killed
by Quakes reaches an appalling figure,
says the Chicago Record Herald No
human foresight, no human science or
learning can guard against or foretell
an earthquake, and by reason of the
very powerlessness of man against this
tremendous natural disturbance the
earthquake takes rank with the most
frightful forms of calamity.
By the use of the most delicate in
struments the least tremor Of the earth
Is row recorded, and the modern instru-
ments now used show that quakes are
Of surprising frequency. The Japanese
SnicYnNINciaol cO0in%vr inc
cords almost a thousand earthquakes
annually. OF course these quakes are
for the most part so slight as to be I'M
noticeable except through the extreme
ly delicate scientific instruments, but
the fact remains that in the realms of
the mikado alone the earth's surface is
disturbed by quakes almost three times
a day, year in and year out. In other
portions Of the world in the earthquake
zone minor tremors Of the earth are
proportionately frequent.
Earthquakes vary greatly in nature,
duration and character. The number
Of shocks in a quake and the length of
the time interval between them varies
between wide limits. The cities of Ca
racas, in 1912, and Lisbon, in 1855, were
destroyed in a few minutes apiece,
while the Calabrian earthquake, begin
ming In 1888, continued for four years.
Earthquakes are by no means con-
fined to continents, and many originate
under the sea. The places in the sea
bottoms where the water shows great
variation in depth are particularly like
IL to experience earthquake shocks.
When an earthquake occurs beneath
the sea the vertical movements of the
sea bed generate a great wave, which
reaches the land after arrival Of the
earthquake itself. In the open sea this
wave is so broad that 1t cannot be per-
ceived.
When it reaches shallow water near
the shore, however, it rushes forward
as an immense breaker, sometimes
sixty feet or more in height, and over
whelms everything in its course. The
velocity Of these great sea waves Is
much greater than the ordinary waves
raised by the wind. A submarine
earthquake near the coast Of Japan In
1854 gave rise to sea waves which
Travelled the whole breadth of the Pa
cifc at a rate of about $40 miles an
hour. At Simoda, Japan, the waves
were thirty feet high, while on reach
ing San Diego, Cal, they still measured
six inches.
The extent of country affected by an
earthquake shock also varies greatly.
Some earthquakes are but purely local
affairs, while others are felt for hun
dreds of miles. The Lisbon earth
quake, which threw down the greater
part Of the city in six minutes and
killed $4,000 persons, disturbed an i'm
mense area, it being felt in the Alps,
Great Britain, in the Baltic sea and in
northern Germany. The Lisbon earth
quake was felt also at Algiers and Fee
as severely as in Spain and Portugal,
while the effects of the sea waves
caused by it were noticeable at enor-
nous distances.
Perhaps no earthquake, outside of
the Lisbon disaster, has been felt over
wider land area than the quake
which partly destroyed Charleston, S.
c., in August, 1886. That quake was
observed from the Carolina coast,
Georgia and Florida, northward to
southern New England, across New
York to Ontario, Canada, and west
ward to eastern Louisiana, Arkansas,
Missouri and Iowa, altogether an area
800 miles wide by 1000 from north to