THE DEATH-RATE OF EARTHQUAKES 243 



shock and the number of wounded was only 14 per cent, of 

 the number killed. In the Andalusian earthquake of 1884 and 

 the Japanese earthquake of 1891, on the contrary, the number 

 of wounded was more than double that of the number killed. 



Of the remaining conditions, the harmful effects of which 

 we can to a certain extent restrain, the most important is the 

 proximity of towns to well-known seismic centres. The unstable 

 regions of the earth have been determined on a large scale 

 by M. de Montessus de Ballore and Prof. J. Milne, the map 

 constructed by the former being based on all recorded shocks 

 and that of the latter on world-shaking earthquakes. The 

 dangerous zones of certain countries, such as Italy and Japan, 

 have also been carefully delineated. In Europe the large towns 

 are far removed as a rule from earthquake centres. Those 

 which have suffered most are Lisbon, Catania and Messina, in 

 addition to a number of small towns in the south-east of Spain, 

 in Ischia, Calabria, the Balkan peninsula, the Ionian Islands, 

 Crete and several islands in the Grecian archipelago. Other 

 countries are less fortunate. Off the west coast of South 

 America and especially from the tenth to the fortieth degree 

 of south latitude, the steeply shelving ocean-bed marks the site 

 of one of the most unstable portions of the globe. Nearly all 

 the larger towns on the coast — Callao, Lima, Arequipa, Iquique, 

 Copiapo, Coquimbo, Valparaiso, Concepcion and Valdivia — 

 have been destroyed at some time or other, most of them more 

 than once, several having suffered from the rush of the great 

 sea-waves as well as from the force of the shock. The shores 

 of the Pacific Ocean, indeed, are specially subject to seismic 

 disturbances throughout a great part of their extent. Of the 

 675 "world-shaking" earthquakes which have been studied 

 by Prof. Milne during the eleven years 1899-1909, three-fifths 

 have originated in the five zones which border that ocean, 

 the greater number being submarine. Five other zones are 

 entirely oceanic but these and a sixth zone containing the West 

 Indian Islands include only one-fifth of the total number of 

 earthquakes, the remaining fifth originating in a great terrestrial 

 zone extending from Italy eastwards to the Himalayas. 



The most important feature of these seismic zones from our 

 present point of view is that earthquakes shake particular 

 portions time after time, although they occur in other places 

 in the intervals. As on the west coast of South America, the 



