THE SEISMIC WAVE IN JAPAN.

Waikato Argus, Volume I, Issue 34, 26 September 1896, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE SEISMIC WAVE IN JAPAN.

Wnrn.vo from Tokio on June '26. the e iiTospondent of Tlie Times gives a intorestiicr, though melancholy, account of the treat wave disaster in Japan by which in five minutes sO.Olit) people were killed mid 12,000 houses dcstrojul, "Dare was nothing (lie says) to presage tlie disaster. From 11 in tho forenoon until half-past I in the afternoon heavy rain fell. It was followed by a tine evening and a dark, calm night. At about, half-past 7 three or four shocks of earthquake were felt ; not. violent shock--, though of the verticil kind that people in Japan have leaned ti dread. 'J lie barometer gave at the time no indication of anything unusual Nome 'JO or 2o minutes lats-r a booming sound became audible fr >m tho diiv:-tr.n of the sea, It appears i > have been variously iu'erpret id. Or.ly a very few suspre'.cd the real significance of the sound, and (Id inland 'r.t the top of their spi;cd. Pipidly the noise increased until it a-sinned the volume and defeating din of a gicat park of artillery, and tlen, in a moment, waves from 20ft. to ,'iOH. high were thundering against the shore. Kamaishi is h little scnsido town, sit.-. mated at the head of a rooky inlet two miles deep, and directly facine; the Pacific Ocean. Hehiud it. is a precipitous hill. The inhabitants so in to have remained until tho last wholly unconscious of what was pending. Suddenly a mountain of sea was observed piling itself up at the mouth of the inlet, and ia a moment. with a thunderous roar, waves IJOft. high swept over the town. Throe tines these avalanches of watir rushed forward, the iii-t incomparably the most terrible, and in le.-than two minute- the lawn was virtually annihilated. Outof 1,223 dwellings only 1 I ) remained standing, and out of a population of i>,.">-37 death.-; had ove~taken -1,700 and •;<)() lay wounded. In completeness of destruction this iceoi'd hct.U the list. Thcrj was s ana remarkable escapes. Man swept out to .--'a from one- side of a lay were thrown up alive on tho opposite beach, and in one ease several ptr.-ous were deposit d oil an island nearly three miles from the t>\\u whence the wave ha 1 ter'a t!i :n. ,\ few s.ved their lives b/ ciiiia'iie;- to balks of limber, and . i -,■-. nl, <ri I ting wcdee.l among the wooden ib.-D'is of \V!\o.';cd building, were prcs rved until i'lowav! receded. At an ian in ()-uri a traveller, apparently the n:i'y aein ia Ihe h-niie, was prasped by fmv o rriii-d women, and the combined w.i.-hl ~!' the five furnished a steady point. Mitt such hrirht incidents were ri'e, whereas of ixpressibly sad happenings there are number*. The pavnts uf -ix children eiused the little ones to throw their arms round a beam of the house. There the}" clung, the unier reaching up to their shoulders. The f-mallesl child, loosing its hold, was swept away, and its iimiln r, springing after it. .-bared ils fate. Presently the fa'ler. Irving to fend off same llaatiiifr debris tli'it ihreatemd to .-;riVo tho children, whs carried off and five orphans alone remain al. To another family of t-n, one ehil 1 of eieht drifted lo a rock and was sav< d : and in another family of the same numb-r the father, haviir,' carried a l.aby i > a hill, and found that none of (ho others followed. m t down the baity and ran back, only to pr-ii-h with the'ro.-t. The story of n retired solditl' is worth repeating. His < xpi rieti 'os in tho i'ic-ent war had taught him t ) apprehend the raiding of Japiu's coasts by a hostile licet. The-, when tlie cannon -like roar of ihe advancing waters and lh" eiiis of ihe people leached him, h • Ihr.-T ( n Ilia liinie and r,;n shorevvards, sword in hand. Nix! morning his eoipawas found, much ba'feml, but not separated from Ihe sword. AluHjj Ihe beach Ihe timbers of wrecked horn !.-lie piled tit ou eeh o.her; mo.-s----coverud roofs of Ihabdi that sheltered happy fmniiii s a few days ago In quiet couu'.ry nocks are s'rewn pell-mell su ihe sands ; here, home* licit have had their Willis torn nway, stand, mi re skeletons; there, ether have been \vr Ilched from their i'mndatims, lele.-coped into e.o-h other, tumbled upside down, or heaped together in > battered confusion. Horses and cattle lie wrdued anion- the r< ek-\ and men and women wander about, -nip; lied and hell hss, looking as ihoti»li (heir minds and energies had been numbed. Numerous <• a-j s:-s are still Ijiuicd under the ,A .'„/•■ of ruined buildings, or under heaps of mud and s.ind Ihio'on up by the waves,ami often whin a t.oiv is disinterred no friend or relative remains alive to identify it. The Government in, of course, adopting vigorous measure-of relic!', and liberal subscriptions are pouring into the newspaper ullie 's. both vernacular mid foreign, for wb. ti calamity overt.-ik..- ihe Japano e the bi-iii'Viiletir-j of the fonign community is invariably large-handed. _ As to the cause of the disaster opinions are .Mill divided. At iii-. 1 it wa.s suppi sed that the disturbance had its origin ina sodden eo'lajse of the sides of a Mibli rranecn carter. On the (tie r hand, considering that the advent of the grout wave was immediately pieeeded by earthquake shocks v.ho.-e vertical eharectir precluded the hypothesis iliat they were duo to the stupendous lolling of ihe wave itself, the most reasonable conclusion appeals to be that. :l submarine vohanie eruption tool; place. 'I hat the water had beiu thrown up from great depths to mvi-II the bulk of Ihe (.'oh- al billow is proved by Ihe fad lh it deep sea shcli-fish wire found in tie- hill- vi.-iud by the wave. ll niliv he added h'TO thai* since the eita.-lmphc. Ihe fish lecni to 1 uve do-si-rted the upptr Wilteis ; a fi.w ran be i-a'cjil now only by le-iie: the deepest scin-s, the eieat bu'k hiivimt apparently L omc down'to inaccessible depths. Kver .-ice lie- hid 11] e; ntuiy Japan |.„s siid'ercd cruelly from oat thquako wave.:. 'lii.. very di-triet now devastated was uiouientarilv buried under tin' .-ca in SI ill A. 0., and tie- loss of a thousand lives is icee.-ie-l, a catastrophe M-an-cly smaller umbo- tlie condemns of ihe lim • than that w hiell ha- just occurred. Hut. in no ease din the destruction of life attain dimensions such as have now to be recorded.