The Calcutta Earthquake

Abstract

ON Saturday, June 12, at almost precisely five o'clock in the afternoon, Calcutta was visited by a somewhat severe shock of earthquake, most sensational reports of which, judging from the accounts that have appeared in the Indian papers, were probably telegraphed to England, and must have caused considerable anxiety among those who have relatives or friends out here. As a matter of fact few lives were lost, the warning given by the preliminary tremors allowing every one ample time to escape from their tottering dwellings, while in the crowded native quarters of the city the damage done is remarkably slight, the European quarter having suffered most. This apparent partiality of the shock is not, I think, to be attributed to any difference in its severity over the two areas, but rather to differences of construction and environment of the buildings. In the native town the houses are, as a rule, low, and built close together, thus supporting each other, while the European houses are generally detached, each standing in its own compound, and very commonly three stories in height. It is a notable fact that the only buildings greatly damaged are old, mostly dating back to the beginning of the century, or even older, and that they have already been subjected to severe shocks of earthquake, and were badly cracked. No new buildings have suffered in anything like the same degree, and it is difficult to find a crack anywhere that one can safely assume to have been caused in the first instance by the present earthquake. The common practice of the owners, after such a visitation, is to have the cracks covered up by a thick coating of plaster, so that to all appearance a house is as sound as before. In many cases this practice is being followed out now, so that there is every prospect of the next earthquake being attended with still more disastrous results.