Evening star., 1950-08-16
Heavy Earth Shocks
Put Many Residents
OF Calcutta in Panic
BY the Asseeieied Press

BY the Assoeieted Press
Some scientists agreed today
that yesterdays earthQuake-one
Of the greatest ever measured by
man-may have occurred near the
wild faStness Of the Himalayan
Mountains.
Whether the big quake shook
the earth in Tibet, Eastern India
or Northern Burma was uncer-
tain in the opinion of these seis-
mologistS.
Earth tremors shook Calcutta
last night, throwing much of the
city in panic, but no casualties or
damage were reported. Crowds
ran shrieking into the streets to
pray.
The official Calcutta seismolo-
giSt said the center Of the quake
appeared to have been a point in
the Eastern Himalayas in China,
about so miles from the northeast
border of Assam.
Shocks of Great Intensity.
The shocks felt in Calcutta were
described as being of great in
tensity, so sharp that Seismograph
needles were thrown out of whack.
The city felt about three shocks,
two Of them lasting for at least
three minutes each.
When the shocks were felt,
homes, movie houses and other
buildings poured out frightened
people. Many fed to easements.
Some refused to come out of hid
ing long after the shocks were
felt. Many stayed in shelter un-
til the next day.
In the town of Tezpur in Assam,
reports from there said, six BOOM
ing reports were heard. These
were believed to be the crack
ing Of the earth's crust.
About IL shocks were reported
in Assam. Shillong reported 10
shocks and Darjeeling, one.
Father Linehan'S Theory.
The Rev. Daniel Linehan, S. j.,
head of the Boston College seis-
mograph station in Weston, Mass.
said it was not surprising that
no word had been received from
the vicinity Of the quake'S epi-
center.
He said his opinion was "better
than a guess" that it probably
occurred in the wild Himalayas
of Eastern India.
British experts decided thej
giant tremor took place in Tibet,
or perhaps Burma. One Kewi
Observatory Official placed it bel
tween the Himalayas and Burma.
In Germany. the geophysicali
institute of the University of,
Goettingen supported the view it1
might have originated in Burma,
or Tibet. 1t was described as.
the strongest in the Institutes SOL
year history and more Violent
than the one which flattened Mes.
sina, Italy, in 1908, killing more
than 10000 persons.
Seismologists said such a shock
striking in any inhabited area
would have caused devastating
destruction.
Quake Was Too Big.
After most quakes, even quite
faint ones, seiSmologiStS usually
are able to estimate the distance
quite closely, and usually can even
guess the direction. If quake is
recorded at several stations it's
location usually can be pinpointed
with great accuracy.
But the trouble with yesterdays
quake was that it was too big.
Several types of shock waves
follow each other in an earth
quake. SeismologiSts have learned
how to interpret distance and
direction, and a few other things,
by their relative strength and the
time between the waves.
Yesterday, however, the first
waves to hit the delicate seismo-
graphs were so strong that they
blurred out most of the succeeding
oneS-Smudging the record, so to
speak.
At Boston College the recording
device which usually traces the
record on Photographic paper a
foot wide was swinging in six
foot path. That means there Is a
tremendous quake-Somewhere.
A-Bomb Is Piker.
The Coast and Geodetic Sur
vey In Washington placed the
shock in the North Burma region
near the Chinese frontier.
An atomic bomb Of rhe Hiro-
shima type is a relative piker com
pared with an earthquake of the
magnitude of the mystery tenn
blor.
If the bomb were exploded un-
derground, the Atomic Energy
Commission says, the magnitude
Of energy release would be com
parable to the energy developed
IN an earthquake Of So-called
magnitude 5.
Yesterdays quake was esti-
mated as Of magnitude S.4.
Bombs more powerful than the
Hiroshima type would, Of course,
be more damaging than those first
bombs-but the area Of damage
would not increase in direct pro-
portion to the increased energy
of the bonnb.