Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 76, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 January 1911 — QUAKE DISASTER KILLS THOUSANDS [ARTICLE]

QUAKE DISASTER KILLS THOUSANDS

Two More Cities Reported Completely Destroyed. 16,000 DEATH LIST REPORTED Two Thousand Soldier* Sent Into th* ’■ 'Stricken District in Russian Turkestan to Do All They Can for Survivors. St. Petersburg, Jan. 6. Authenticated accounts of the earthquake in Russian Turkestan are still lacking, but the reports reaching the newspapers here, continually magnify the disaster. It is stated that the town of Prjevalsk, near Lake Issik Kul, sank with all its inhabitants, 10,000 of whom were killed. A new lake now’ occupies the site of the town. Pijpek, on the river Ch u, is also reported to have been destroyed, with a large proportion of its 6,000 inhabitants. The destruction of the few telegraph lines in that region prevents verification of the reports, or the obtaining of details. Undoubtedly the shock was very violent. It is supposed to have extended for 800 miles east and west. Two thousand soldiers, accouterdd for relief work, were rushed from Tashkent into the earthquake stricken territory. Practically 1,000 square miles of territory were shaken, and several towns Wiped out. • Wide fissures in the steppes are growing hourly. Reports from towns and villages on the edge iof the death belt, whither refugees fled during the night, said that conditions in the interior of the devasted zone were horrifying. A big detachment of troops was ordered to hurry at all speed from the Tashkent barracks tow ai d Vyerny, a fortified town of 23,000 inhabitants, which is reported in ruins. At Kopal a great section of the city lays in ruins, according to meager reports. In the Sirke desert east of Kopal and on the west steppes stretching to the mountains, hundreds of members of Turkestan tribes are said to have been swallowed up by the earth. Scores of persons perished in Lake Tssyk-Kul. When the earth began to rock many fled into boats Cn the water, thinking themselves safe from the falling buildings or cracks in theearth. However, the surface of the lake became so violent that the boats were swamped. * So great was the forte of the tremors that mountains in the Koongi-Ala-Tau range were split open. Fear that an epidemic will follow' the disaster led the authorities to send great caravans with medical supplies into the stricken zone. Army medical men were commanded to accompany the relief corps.