Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 September 1898 — WORK OF AN EARTHQUAKE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WORK OF AN EARTHQUAKE.

How the Seiamlc Disturbance in India Affected a Railroad. The illustration is from a photograph and gives some idea of the violence of the great earthquake which visited India on June 12th, commencing at 5:10

p. m. and lnstlug from three to seven minutes. It was a far-reaching earthquake. On tlie east It was reported to have been felt over at the farthest extremity of Assam and Akyat in Burma, on the south at Masullpatain In Madras and at Elllebpliur. In Berar. On the north It was felt at Khatmundu. the capital of Nepal: and at Gnntoug, on the frontier of Sikkim, It was severe enough to overthrow some of the barrack chimneys. It was reported to have disturbed the Grand Llama at LIMUitA. Thus the range of the shock extended over an area 1,500 mill's long and 1,000 miles broad, or 1,275,000 square miles in all. The government asked the station masters and railway men to rei>ort the damage done in their districts, nnd among the matter sent In In reply were * two photographs, •ne of which we reproduce. This shows the cHuet of the earthquake on the

rails; the other shows gaps«nd chasm* made in close proximity to the railway -Hue. t The destructive force of the earthquake reached its maximum In Shillong, Cherrapunji and Tura. In Shillong, it may be said without exaggeration, that the Biblical curse was carried out literally, and not one stone was left standing on another. All masonry buildings in this place had been levelled to the ground, and this not by overthrow merely, but by a shattering of the walls into fragments, on the top of which the roof subsided parachutewise. According to the seismometers at Shillong, the shock while it lasted was at least equal to a backward and forward shake of seven inches, repeated sixty times a minute. Thus it is not difficult to understand that few structures except those most strongly braced together or composed of very great flexibility, could stand this for many moments.

EFFECT ON THE RAILWAY.