The Washington times., 1906-04-19
FHTEFUL RECORD
OF EARTHQUAKES
Islands Tossed Into Sea and
Towns RaZed.
LIST STEADILY GROWING
San Fra ccisco Has Been in Clutch of
the Terror in Previous
Years.
LIST STEADILY GROWING

San Francisco's destruction yesterday
has added another to the long list OF
earthquake d. casters that has been
growing stead throughout the Chris
tian era.
From the eruptions OF Vesuvius In 70
a. D. with It's accompanying earth
quakes in Italy and throughout that en-
tire section of the world, until today.
hundreds Of cities have been destroyed,
hundreds Of thousands of lives lost. and
even great geographical changes have
been brought about.
The miserable huts OF Canton buried
hundred thousand Chinese beneath their
fallen walls Lisbon. racl1ed by an earth
quake until its hills fluttered like cloth
in the wind, numbered it's dead at So. 900
in the fatal year 1755. Half the islend of
IIrakatoa was tossed into the sea in
1888, and more than 5000 deaths were
caused within a few minutes
Charleston's Deaths Few.
In Charleston, S. c., in 1856. every sec
ton Of the city showed the effects of the
fearful shock that visited it, but fortu-
nately the death list was held down 70
the comparatively small number of Al
Japan and its vicinity and South and
Central America are the two sections of
the globe in which earthquakes occur so
frequently as to cause no further com
ment than al comparisons Of death lists
and property losses
In Catania, in Italy. where earth
quakes have been particularly destruc-
tive. the ground was heaved like series
OF pillows in 1137 and 1900 lives were
lost Twenty-one years later. in I15s,
Syria was shaken throughout its length
i
struction of entire villages and the loss
Of 10000 lives. In 1858 SILICA suffered in
its turn, and 20,OO0 lives were lost.
Nearly 400 years elapsed after the de-
struction of SILICA before Europe suf-
fered another great shock, and then the
eruption of Vesuvius and the destruction
OF Tore del Greco, Resina and Grana-
selIo caused a loss of $1,000 lives.
Palermo's Destruction.
Palermo was shaken to pieces BY an
earthquake in 1726. and 5000 Of it's in
habitants perished- Five years later
Canton, China, was visited by the most
frightfuI series of shocks within the
memory of man.
In 1755 the entire earth shook with
tremors for months, and two great dis
asters marked the year Lisbon, the
cdplIdI Oh PORTUGAL WIS lOSStu ABOUT III
n series of shocks that opened great
assures in the city's streets and shook
its stone buildings into mere masses of
mortar and stone. In all, 5000 were
killed in Lisbon and a loss of S2o,OOO0OO
was borne by the people Of the city.
In that same year. kuChan, in North
Persia was destroyed. Although not
large city. 10000 lives were lost.
The eighteenth century. through this
series Of disasters. saw nearly two hun
dred thousand lives sacrificed in four
earthquakes.
St. Pierre'S Awful Fate.
In IS94. Caracas. in its lofty seat among
the mountains Of Venezuela suffered
from one of the most severe shocks in
its history, and 5000 lives We're lost
Then in 1902 the eruption of Mt. Pelee
established a record which it is hoped
never will. be surpassed in this country.
The Pacific coast has been so frequent
" visited by earthquakes that it was
deemed unwise, until a few years ago,
TO erect tall buildings in San Francisco.
1t was only with the advent of modern
steel construction, which was believed
would render tall buildings safe from
earth trcmOrs. that SkyScraperS made
their appearance on the coast In the
past fifty years more than go earth
quake shocks have been recorded in San
Francisco. The most severe were in 1865
and 1869. In 1868 much damage was done
to the city and many lives were lost
The disturbance Of 1898 did not result
in loss of life. but caused much damage
to property. This shock occurred at
II As p. m. March 81. and houses all over
the city were shaken to their founda-
tions. There was intense excitement and
t71Va V10fv ION recorded