CRUMBLING MOUNTAINS. A REMARKABLE DISASTER IN EASTERN KAH.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 411, 16 October 1889, Page 5

CRUMBLING MOUNTAINS. A REM ARK ABLE DISASTER IN EASTERN KAH.

In the eastern districts of the province the loss of life was not so great, but the disaster was more remarkable. The Japan "Gazette" gives the narratives of a few survivors who reached C4ojo after a laborious journey. According to thoir story, unusually hoavy rains commenced to fall at Totsugawa and neighbourhood, in Yoshinogun, Nara-ken, on the 18th of August. By daybreak next morning various rivers and rivulets were swollen. The people along the side of River Amano anticipated a flood and began to make preparations accordingly when suddenly the intervening space between Tsujido-mura and Sakamoto-mura was blocked by earth from the mountain. The people escaped for safety to the temple, situated upon the highest point in the neighbourhood, and then, without any warning, the mountain behind the village gave way and thb whole village was buried, as were also Nagatone, Asaki, Umibayara, Tanise and Hayaahi Muras and all the villages alongside the River Totsu. All the inhabitants, numbering not less than 500, were killed. Uonochi, Kodsu, Kawatdu and other villages were also buried or w ashed away , but the number of killed here lias not yet been ascertained. It is al«o expected -that a large number have been killed at Kazoya, Uchihara, Koikawa, Noziri, YamapaW and Tanno Muras, etc., which suffered damage either by the Hood or by the mountain-slip. News has notye*> come from other villages along the river, but it is probable that there has been great loss of life, Out of

the fif fcy-five villages in ' Totsugawa-go there is probably not more than one that has not suffered damage. None of the forests, rice fields, or other cultivated land escaped. It is of course impossible yet to ascertain the exact number of deaths, but the official estimates give it as nearly 5,000. As whole towns were buried beneath the avalanche of rocks and earth and trees, the stories of some villages will never be known and the loss can only be imagined, 'lhere is much suffering among the survivors. Exposed to the storm without sufficient clothing and with little or nothing to eat, many will peri»h on the mountain sides before succour can reach them. The losses to property have not been estimated, and it will be some weeks before the real extent of the damage is known, as the country is at present in an impassable condition. These are the greatest disasters known to Japan for many years, and further details will probably bring fresh stories of desolation and suffering.