GREAT EARTHQUAKE IN INDIA.

Gisborne Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1426, 10 April 1905, Page 2

GREAT EARTHQUAKE IN INDIA.

TERRIBLE tale op loss op LIFE. GREAT DESTRUCTION. COLLAPSE OP NEWLY-BUILT BARRACKS. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright Calcutta, April 7. In Loxton district a judge was killed by the earthquake. In Dharmsala landslips cut communfr' cations. -> In Kasbgir a panic occurred. . Great damage was done, and there were many fatalities in Jalandhar, Feropur, Amritsar, Taran, Dehradun, Umballa, and Srinagar.

WHOLE FAMILIES KILLED. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright Received 4.29 p.m,, April 9, Calcutta, April 8. The earthquake originated in the Western Himalayas, the centre beiDg about Dharmsala.

The intensity increased through the Puujaub and the united provinces, while from Bagaputana northwards it decreased rapidly. Apparently there was no wide extension of the disturbance towards Assam and Afghanistan. Information from westwards is imperfect.

Commnnioation with Dharmsala Is difficult owing to the deßtrnotion of 'roads, bridges, and telegraphs. Repairs are proceeding. Tents, medical comforts, nurses, and doctors have been sent. Gurkhas had jußt moved to the newlycompleted British-built barracks, whioh collapsed bodily. Other troops to be quartered there had not arrived.

One hundred and thirty-eight Gurkhas were killed and 186 injured. Seventy-one are missing, The iast includes 29 women and children and some camp followers.’ The Deputy Inspector of Police at Dharmsala lost the whole of his family. Ho was himself crippled for life. Oolonel Robinson, commanding Dharmsala, lost his wife and two daughters. A number of other military and civilian officials Buffered in their families.

APPALLING LOSS OF LIFE. FALL OF BARRACKS ALONE CAUSES 477 DEATHS. ENORMOUS NUMBER OF NATIVES PERISH. By Electric Telegraph!—Per Press Asaociationt—Copyright. ► Received 4.29 p.m., April 9. Calcutta, April 8. The vice-regal lodge at Simla was declared unsafe after the'earthquake. , Lady Curzon, the children, and staff removed to houses within the grounds. Lady Curzon’s bedroom was badly damaged. The Rev. Mr Rowlands, Mrs Danebre, and Miss Lorbeer were bnried in the ruins of Kangra mission house. The - fate of other missionaries is unknown. ' Many houses and Government buildings in Kangra district collapsed, especially at Parampur.. Food and shelter are urgently needed. There was very serious damage at Mudki, Sailkot, and elsewhere. Few houses at Lahore absolutely collapsed, though many will need to be rebuilt. Later reports state that seven Europeans and children and. 470 Gurkhas were killed at Dharmsala by the fall of the barracks. One-fonrth of the native population of villages in the vioinity perished. King Edward 'and the Prince'of Wales sent messages of profound ooncern at the calamity and their earnest sympathy for the sufferers.

APPALLING SUDDENNESS OF CATASTROPHE.

GREAT GAP OPENS UP IN. EARTH HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE BURIED IN DEBRIS. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright Received 4.46 p.m., April 9. Calcutta, April 8. The suddenness of the Dharmsala catastrophe was appalling. In a moment the barraoks were shattered from end to end. Hundreds were bnried for several hours before there was an attempt at resoue. It was impossible to remove the heavy blocks of masonry. By Wednesday afternoon two hundred were resoued. Many were terribly crushed.

A SURVIVOR’S STORY.

By Electric Telegraph:—Per Press Association—Copyright.Received 4.46 p.m , April 9. Calcutta, April 8. A Hindu survivor relates that at six on Tuesday morning, after a cold and bolster, ous night, the mountain rattled, then the whole place heaved up and subsided. The Hindus fitd from their huts and prayed in the open, while a roar like a discharge of heavy guns continued. Then there was a terrible crash. The Hindu saw. a great gap open and swallow two houses. Then the barraoks were uplifted two feet aud collapsed in ruins.

The terrible cries from the wreckage soon ceased. Many natives were killed by falling bricks and stonework.

VARYING OPINIONS OF SCIENTISTS.

j By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright I , Sydney, April 8. j Professor David, of Sydney University, I is of the opinion that the earthquakes in I New Zealand probably were sympathetic movements of the earth’s crust, as the outcome of the shocks in India. . Earth- [ quakes usually travel at the rate of six to eight miles per second. At this rate the,rwould have been transmitted to New Zea*P* land in 12 honrs 20 minutes. As th&shocks at Rotorua were 19 hours later than those at tho Himalayas, it follows that they could not have been direct Bhocks

from India. ; It is not improbable that even feeble transmitted tremors aoted as a liberating force in New Zealand. At the same time the fact must not be lost sight of that it is probable there were extraterrestrial causes, suoh as diminution of the amount of heat received from the sun or variation of electric or magnetic energy transmitted from the sun to the earth during some given period, which affects the whole surface of the earth more or less simultaneously, and so renders any weak part of the crust at such ■ time liable to earthquake shock or voloanic eruption. ! (Per Press Association.) Wellington, Saturday. Interviewed by a Post reporter to-day, Mr Georgo Hogen, a leading seismological authority, is opposed to the view of Professor David, of Sydney University, regarding the connection between the Indian and Rotorua quakes. He declares

it moat probable the ocaurrence was merely a coincidence,” and points’ out th t 88 three to ten quakes occurred daily on the earth, there must be noticeable coinci-

dences occasionally. He suggests the Indian quakes wore due tj movements below the great mas 3 of the Himalaya-, and says them is nothing unusual about the disturbance at Rotorua. It is in ti e

highest degree improbable. He said th t a difference in solar heat oausod quakes, end declares that this is obvions from the

facfc that tho finesfc cannot re- j cord any difference befcweac heat in'; winter and summer at 100 fefct below the ;! surface, whereas the locality where the actual movement causing the (shock takes M place is generally ten to twentty or twentyfive miles below the surface. / Neither is it J likely, be says, that solar electric energy had anything to do with cause.