SOME FAMOUS EARTHQUAKES 



now usually recorded on the seismometers and seismo- 

 graphic instruments set up in observatories stationed 

 thousands of miles away. 



All of our readers will recollect the Jamaica earth- 

 quake which occurred comparatively recently. Port 

 Kingston, in Jamaica, has had its share of earthquake 

 disasters. In the year 1692 Port Royal, the then chief 

 city, was destroyed, and in rebuilding it the Jamaicans 

 moved it across the harbour, because the old town site 

 was largely submerged beneath the sea. It was a recur- 

 rence of the settlement of the ground which in part 

 produced the earthquake of January 14th, 1907. There 

 were slight shocks preceding the earthquake, and subter- 

 ranean rumblings. The chief damage was done before 

 thirty-five seconds had gone by, and of course the catas- 

 trophe was greater because the shocks were felt in the 

 neighbourhood of a city. Considered by itself the earth- 

 quake was not of the order of " great " earthquakes, but 

 many of the effects were most curious. A statue of 

 Queen Victoria on a pedestal was partly turned round ; a 

 series of steep terraces was formed by the side of the 

 harbour; a small spring was converted into a stream 

 eight feet wide ; and, as we all know, very great destruc- 

 tion was inflicted on life and property. Soundings which 

 have since then been made in the harbour show that its 

 depth has greatly increased in some parts, in one instance 

 by not less than twenty-seven feet. The greatest de- 

 pression occurred near Port Royal (the old city), where a 

 hundred yards or more of the ground was submerged by 

 water varying from eight to twenty-five feet in depth. 



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