EARTHQUAKES IN SOUTH AMERICA.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 633, 8 February 1870, Page 4

EARTHQUAKES IN SOUTH AMERICA.

The predictions of an earthquake alongthe Coast of South America have been partially fulfilled, but no extensive des-i truction of life or property is reported. Shocks were felt severely at Iquique and. Arequipa, and also at Aricav The following .account of the shock experienced is f';y.en. r by ;a . p.a&senger p .by the steamer acific :— - r ....... At about half-past ten o'clock on the night of the 20th as I was engaged at billiards with, a . friend^at -the ( hotel, we suddenly heard a "nipsi fearful ' subterranean noise, compared with jwhich the firing of a : thousand |funs Would -be as nothing. Every soul in the building immediately rushed fpr^the street ; .'I-.stood paralysed with ; feaf, not knowing what to do, the awful sensation being. entirely new to me. The -.shock followed within four or five seconds, rocking the house to and fro, as if it were a plaything. Notwithstanding the confusion of those few moments, to me the most dreadfnl I ever experienced, I observed the balls on the table to. thej cujshionLon.- oneiide, tHerf to ihe"other, then back again to 'the middle, where they remained nearly stationery, moving only very slightly, from what I supposed to be a vihjgjtory motion consequent upon the first shocks. These could not have had a duration of more th^n; thirty/ seconds, by which time I had sufficiently recovered my senses to hurry to the street, and make the best of my w,ay to the Plaza or the AJameda. Hundreds 'of j>eople were running ia the samp men, women.'aad children^ =Ini my flight I had sufficient presence of mind rtpr . up ; : a little, -girl,, of eiaht or nine years, who had Talleft down in a fainting tit, caused by sheer fright. Thus bur_djened, I had not proceeded the length of our street when the piteous wailing of a poor woman prostrate in the street again arrested me. Many hurried by without itioticing her; agonisingj cries, intenfrprily •^ponitKbirowniskfety.' II quickly' divided, tlveunhappy situation of the poor creature, and lamented my 'inability' to succor lierj but she seemed indifferent to her own fate as compared with the safety of a little child of two years which clnn£j to her in mute terror, and which she implored me to take to a place of security. I seized it, and rushed: on. in lesstime.i|hian I have taken to telli it, -leaving the unforfuriate woman and her unborn babe to their fate -X could not help it — I had no remedy. I did all I could in saving the two little. •ones. , Jn,a few minutes, during which I experienced another shock of earthquake, which nearly threw me off my feet, I reached the Plaza, in the centre of which were all the inhabitants who, had n/itr'tjaken refuge jin the ATameda. The .scene" can, scarcely be described. Men,,, ..wbihen, a|(d -children were : in 'their night' j dotheaimbst-ofthemohtheirf knees, and ■ alb playing most fervently amidst deafening wails of..j"Dios mio ! iSantissima iS.ehprd.'! Misericbrdia-!" and-tße'frighte|ried eries '■'ipf I '"' little children of " Mamma !" I remained in the Plaza all night, '/- not knowing what to expect. Daring this time so many earthquakes occurred that 1 did not count them, but I should say there must have been at least thirty.- I see the papers say forty, but I do not think any person could have had sufficient presence of mind during that feaitful night to keep a correct record. iTheufext: day- 1 Hastened tb An'ca-with; all speed, to' await tlie 'steain'er "on the*cTay 'fbllbwing for the North. There I found the scenes and. horrors of the .previous night in Tacna had ibeen. repeated on a smaller scale, arid pebple, equally alarmed. ' T-he poor 'woman T mentioned \yijia- afterwards cared for, and was likely to recover. This has. beenini jr experience of .a r :Becqnd-rate..eajtjiqftake, and I trust I shall neyer-witii.ess bne.bf a worse or more . yiolenthature, such "as .M. : Falb : predicts.