PERSIAN EARTHQUAKE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 71, 20 April 1909, Page 4

PERSIAN EARTHQUAKE.

SIX THOUSAND KILLKD. VILLAOKS .SWALLOWED l'l\ llclated reports received by the Persian (iover.iiiicnt about the middle of Ki'bruarv record a severe earthquake on 2)! rd .la'nuary in the province of Luristan. in tli-j districts of ISunijurd and Sebihor. Allhouiih they are sparsely populated. sixty villages were wholly or partially destroyed, while several villa"es were reported t-i have been engulfed completely. The loss of life was estimated at between live thousand and >-ix thousand, and twice as many cattle penciled. The Covcnior of Burujunl telegraphed that :'ic had sent emissaries to investigate the damage wrought by the earthquake, of which the centre of intensity was about a two-davs' jmfrnev from that plaee. .\le.-eugers ,-tated that they found fearful devastation in the mountainous region between Knrujiird and Luristan. In this, the only district of the devastated area inspected, it was found that fifteen villages hail whollv or partially disappeared, but the total number destroyed was estimated at over fifty. A small proportion of the inhabitants i,scaped with their lives, but most of their cattle perished. Some villages had completely disappeared, not a soul beinu' left alive. Thus there are no traces of the villages of Bahrein ami Lrdien. Onlv the rivers, mountains, and broken valleys tell their tale of a fearful convulsion uf Nature. Sclahor was the district most!,- affected, and the super-i slitioin I'er.-iniis of Nationalist views said that the convulsion was a judgment because the Amir Itohadur Hoard Jlcgiineut was eompo-eil of men from Sela- j lior. The fact that there i.s ih, Consul | <ieav ilie stricken neiuhhoi'lmod accounted for the delay in 'the receipt of (he n-ws. which is cliariictcrMic of nli'airs in l'f?sia. Apparently the shocks were ] comparatively local in their elfect, owing lo ti.e extreuielv uiountaiiious nature of the region. A '.severe shock was, however, felt oa the morning of 2:ird Janu- ] ary at Ispahan, over one hundred miles away.