THE EARTHQUAKE IN SYRIA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 169, 17 July 1872, Page 4

THE EARTHQUAKE IN SYRIA.

(From the Correspondent of the Times of India), Antioch, Syria, April 3, 2 p.m. It was my lot to witness the occurrence here, this morning, of the most severe and fatal earthquake which has visited this region since the disastrous and fatal calamity of August 13. 1822, which destroyed many thousands of lives both here and in Aleppo. Tliis morning, at precisely eight o'clock, English time, a rumbling like distant thunder or a strong gush of wind waa heard, and immediately the doors, windows, and roof of the house began to creak and snap loudly, and the entire fabric to move to and fro, with a rocking waving motion, which lasted from four to six seconds, or it may be even more. There was ample time during the shaking to walk across the room, and for those iv the lower rooms of the houses to run or even walk out into the courtyards, which all houses here possess. I was in an upper room joining with a devout American missionary, the Rev. F. 0. Powers, and his family, in their morning social worship. At tha wave-like motion of the house, which followed on the first shock, or by which it was continued, all started to their feet and looked at each other with astonishment. The walls of the house meanwhile began to crack, the plaster to fall in large flakes from tbe stone 'and brickwork, and the pictures, bookcases, and other articles of furniture fell or were overturned. In an adjoining room a cast-iron stove, weighing nearly a hundredweight, was overturned, a bookcase full of books was thrown on the floor, and a row ol volumes from another case placed as if by a careful band on the carpet, while the rest remained, and even a tall lamp standing on the bookcase was not overset, while a clock had been thrown from its bracket on the wall into an arm chair several, feet distant, without injuring the glass case in the least. The house was nearly a new one, built of wood and stone, two stories high, and though not massive was fairly strong ; and though the plaster is much broken, the walls cracked, and the furniture disturbed and overturned, little real harm was done. Outside, however, the case is different. On reaching the courtyard a dense cloud of dust was observed to rise on all sides around, arid the voice of wailing was heard in cries of " Ta Allah 3 yakurrim;j — 0 Godl 0 Merciful," and the hurrying of footsteps;' The yard door was soon knocked at, and on being opened, several of the neighbors ruehed iv, wringing their

blinds and telling of falling houses and buried friends and relatives, a fact which we soon found, alas ! too true. A short walk to the outside of the city over the old heavy stone arch bridge that spans the Orontes, revealed scenes of the most distressing and heartrending kind. Some persons in the bazaar were closing the shops where they bad not fallen, and men, women, and children were running here and there, some bleeding with wounds, others tearing their hair, and wailing the loss of relatives ; while the narrow streets were blocked up for long distances, to depths varying from 3ft. to 10ft., with the debris of fallen houses and walls. The Greek church, a nearly new building holding 600 persons, is in ruins ; the telegraph poles were several of them knocked down, aud the wires broken ; the old Roman arch (probably) over the bridge was thrown down, and Jay nearly whole upon tbe bridge. This latter, which is a strong stone structure of three or four arches, is riven in several places by gaping chasms, and a part of the parapet and a part of one of the arches have fallen. The graveyards to the ! west of the bridge looked as if huge moles had been burrowing under them and upheaving the stones, which were shaken into the hollows left by decayed corpses or wood. Several dead persons were brought out of the city while I stood looking on, and in a few cases I was appealed to in earnest and pitiable tones to restore or help the dead or dying. A stream of people meanwhile was issuing from the streets into the open fields with their baggage, for safety.