GREAT EARTHQUAKE

Waipukurau Press, Volume I, 20 April 1906, Page 3

GREAT EARTHQUAKE

In America. o— .. IMMENSE DAMAGE and LOSS OF LIFE IN ’FRISCO. THE CITY IN FLAMES. Yesterday the local post office received wires intimating that San Francisco had been partially destroyed by a severe earthquake; that as a consequence about one thousand persons were killed and many wounded ; that fierce fires were raging in many quarters, and that telegraphic communication with the city was interrupted. A later estimate is that upward of two thousand were killed. The San Francisco shock began at 16 minutes past five in the morning and lasted for several minutes, with a recurrence. A wide area was affected, Half an inch movement of the earth’s surface is recorded on the Washington instruments. A mile and a half of the track of the Southern Pacific railway disappeared under the water, and a crowded passenger train barely escaped. Many inmates in the asylum at San Jose were buried in the ruins. The entire business portion of the city is in ruins. Cavalry and infantry patrol the streets, and are instructed to shoot thieves, who arealready plundering. Thousands of the homeless are huddled in the parks and public squares. Troops are guarding the banks. Wellington, April 19. The first waves of the San Francisco earthquakes were registered on the seismograph here at 1.2 this morningThe last report states that the magnitude of the disaster grows. Fires are ragingin all directions. Latest [Special to Waipnkurau Press.] Wellington, this afternoon. Last bulletin from San Francisco says the fire is still raging. The entire city is doomed. Business district and nearly half the residential section is destroyed. No large buildings are standing. The greatest loss of life is in South Market street, Six hundred bodies have been recoveredStaynes’ Insane Asylum has been destroyed with majority of the inmates. Reports received from the Interior are alarming There have been previous earthquakes in San Francisco. The loss of life during the great earthquake of 1868 was comparatively trifling, but. there was widespread damage to property. In 1892 a number of towns and villiages in the Sacramento Valley were almost destroyed by a similar visitation. The last earthquake of a severe nature prior to that now recorded was in 1902, when the town of Los Alamos was partly destroyed.