The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1922-07-25
Earthquake in Kansu Swallows Up
Towns and Mountains and Destroys
Thousands of Lives in Territory 300
Miles Long and 100 Miles Wide.


WASHINGTON, D. Cone o
the most appalling catastrophes in his
tory and, perhaps, the most poorly ad
vertised calamity that has occurred ii
modern times" is the way the Nation
al Geographic Magazine describes the
earthquake in KanSu, China, 'Wher(
the Mountains Walked
Though the tremendous shaking uf
occurred in December, 1920, the story
IS only now beginning to spread be
yond the narrow dehles which guard
the entrance to Kansu province, says
the article.
"Mountains that moved in the night;
landslides that eddied like waterfalls
creyasses that swallowed houses and
camel trains. and villages that were
swept away under rising sea OF loose
earth were few OF the subsidiary
occurrences.
Ten Large Cities Shaken.
Mr.. Josef w. Hall Upton Close,
who visited the earthquake area under
the auspices OF the International Fam
me Relief committee, has brought
back one OF the first accounts OF the
devastated country and the strange
things that happen when the earth
turns itself into a contortionist. The
area of destruction, 100 by 800 miles
in extent, contains ten large cities be-
sides numerous villages.
Zone of the most dramatic episodes
of the disaster was the burial OF Ma
the Benevolent, a famous Moslem ia
matte. and 800 of his followers Just as
they had met in conclave to proclaim
a holy war. The cave in which they
had gathered was sealed by a terrific
avalanche, while the group kneit on
their prayer mats.
Waterman Alone Escaped.
"By some miracle the Waterman Of
the entrance to the cave escaped with
his life but the Others were buried so
deeply that despite months of digging
over an area of mile, the Moslems
have failed to recover the bodies OF
their leaders.
"In another district Mr.. Hall and
his party found that whole noun
tain topped by a temple had slid into
a valley. A little beyond they found
that road bordered by poplar trees
had ridden the crest OF a slide for
three-uuarters of mile, without APP
parent damage to the trees or even to
the birds nests in their branches. One
astonished peasant looked out of his
window in the morning to find that
a high hill had moved onto his home
stead, stopping its line Of march with
in a few feet of his hut
i, Caught in Jam of Slides.
"The most appalling sight of all was
the Valley of the Dead, where seven
great slides crashed into gap in the
hills three miles long, killing every
living thing in the area except three
men and two dogs.
I'm a small town on the highway
two strangers had put UP at the inn
on the evening of the disaster. In the
terror and confusion that followed the
earthquake the landlord completely
forgot his two guests, 1t was not I'M
til several days later that he remem-
bered them, and when after consider
able digging, their rooms were brought
to light both men were found alive.
Stupehed by the shock, they knew
nothing of what happened and mag
ined that they had slept through an
ordinary night. The landlord however,
in spite of remonstrances did not neg
lect to collect room rent for the full
period of their stay.
Dragon Waggles His Tail.
'The subterranean dragon OF Chi
nese cosmology who, according to the
northwest China tradition, waggles his
tail every three hundred years this
time PLAYED havoc, such as was never
1 IL nf
and the Indications of men. Likely no
other earthquake in scientific annals
ever changed the physical geography
of the affected region to the extent OF
the Kansu cataClysm.
The remoteness OF the district IN
which the earthquake occurred cannot
but intrigue interest. Although the con-
current quakes in Chile and Salvador,
the tidal wave of zap and the erup-
ton of Mt Asama, Japan, are all his
tory the Kansu disaster is still news.
What actually happened in this from
tier province of China is only now,
through the reports OF the relief in
vestigation expedition of which Mr.,
Hall was member, being made
known in any comprehensive way,
even in China's capital and port cities.
Had the quake disaster struck sew
eral hundred miles to the north, west
or south the loss of life would have
been negligible AS it happened, it Sc
iected for destruction, in the agricul-
turally rich, terraced loess country
OF the southern half OF the affected
area, the most populous portion OF the
province.
Life Loss May Be 100000.
Although the density of population
is not more than one-tenth that Of
Shantung or the East China plain the
loss OF life from landslides collapsed
cave homes and falling buildings, to-
gether with death from exposure of
the unsheltered in mid-winter in this
high altitude, was according to Off
cia1 figures 100000, and according to
the estimate of the foreign investiga-
tors more than half this number.
Following the Sianfu-LanChowfu-
Turkestan highway, we assembled a
small valley Of steep grade directly
west OF Tsingning. Suddenly the high
road for a length of a quarter OF a
mile dropped out OF sight 1t had been
cut as if chopped off with an axe. leav-