THE GREAT EARTHQUAKES IN GREECE AND AMERICA.

Kumara Times, Issue 3106, 16 October 1886, Page 3

THE GREAT EARTHQUAKES IN GREECE AND AMERICA.

FOUR HUNDRED PEOPLE KILLED. The following details of the great earthquakes in Greece and America are in cablegrams to Australian papers : An earthquake in the Western Provinces of Greece, on the night of 27th August, caused widespread detraction of property and the loss of over 300 lives, the greatest number of victims being at the town of Philiatra. Strong shocks were also felt at the same time in the neighbouring island of Zante and in Egypt. This commotion has been followed by a still more severe one in the United States, which was visited on the evening of the 31st by an earthquake among the most extensive in area and the swiftest in motion on record, much surpassing in this respect the earthquake of 1884. The earthquake on the 31st August extended from the Atlantic, west to Omaha, south to Mobile, and north to Detroit, and was most severe at Charleston, South Carolina. In other parts it was not so destructive, bnt caused great alarm at Washington, Richmond, and Atlanta, Augusta, Louisville, Indianapolis, Pittsburg, Cleveland, Chicago, and Memphis. Most of the New England States e>caped. The earthquakes consisted of several shocks exceeding a minute in duration, and except at Charleston, seem to have been noiseless. Charleston was laid in ruins, and three-fourths of the city wil ; have to be rebuilt. A hundred people were killed and many more injured. When the first shock came people rushed terrified into the streets from the houses, theatres, and public meetings, and camped out all night in the open air. Loud subterranean rumblings and successive shocks took place, and the crash of! falling houses on all sides produced a fearful scene. Fires broke out in many places among the debris of ruined houses. Almost the entire population are houseless, and two-thirds of the dwellings have been rendered uninhabitable. The damage is estimated at eight million dollars. The gasworks are destroyed, aud the city thus left in darkness at night. Ou the evening of the 31st earthquake shocks were also felt in Smyrna, while volcanic eruptions .burst forth from a peak at the eastern end of the Island of Galita, off the Tunisian coast. Finally, shocks have occurred throughout Southern Italy, and Malaga, slightly damaging several buildings, but causing no loss of life.