THE BALKANS QUAKES

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, Issue 57, 18 February 1927, Page 9

THE BALKANS QUAKES

SIX HUNDRED KILLED. TERRIFYING experiences. Belgrade, Feb. 15. One hundred and seventy-six distinct shocks have been recorded in the Balkans since Monday. The latest reports indicate that 600 were killed. In njany districts earthquakes were accompanied by vivid flashes of lightning and peals of terrifying thunder, which added to the horror of the scenes. In the centre of the trouble, m Montenegro, great fissures appeared in the fields and huge boulders broke from the mountains and crashed down into the valleys, accompanied by ava. lanches of snow and ice which levelled forests and houses. Fields often sunk below the river level and were con verted into swamps. The railway lines crumpled up and the telegraph wires were torn down. A number of houses in the Polovopol.je district, overlooking an embankment, were bodily* swept into the river without notice, drowning the miserable inmates who were hopelessly trapped. A party of Englishmen at Ragusa, who also experienced the San Francisco earthquake and the 1906 earthquakes, recall Bendandi’s prophecy that disastrous earthquakes would be experienced this year. The centre oi the disturbance was beneath the sea. Huge waves swept the Dalmatian coast, forcing the inhabitants to flee. Great damage was done at Peljesac Peninsula, where a church tower collapsed and many buildings were destroyed —(A. and N.Z.)