ON SEISMOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION. 



153 



V. Earthquake Records from Japan and other places. 

 By John Milne, F.R.S., F.G.S. 



Earthquake No. 1. — On the Sea-waves and Earthquakes of June 15, 1896, 



in North Japan. 

 (Unless otherwise stated, Japan mean time, or Gr.M.T. + 9 hours, is here used.) 



The sea-waves which at about 8 p.m. on June 15, 1896, invaded the 

 north-eastern coast of Nippon were as destructive to life as those which 

 accompanied the well-known eruption on August 26, 1883, of Krakatoa, 

 whilst one of the shocks by which they were preceded was of such severity 

 that it was clearly recorded in Europe, and in every probability caused a 

 disturbance over the entire surface of the globe. 



The magnitude of this disturbance, and the sub- oceanic changes by 

 which it was probably accompanied, make it well worthy of record. The 

 sources from which the following notes bearing upon this catastrophe have 

 been derived are various. Amongst the more important are translations 

 from the writings of Professor Kochibe and other officers of the Geological 

 Survey of Japan ; extracts from Japanese newspapers ; the records of the 

 Central Observatory in Tokio, and those from a large number of other 

 observatories at which disturbances were recorded ; and, lastly, the writer's 

 personal knowledge of the devastated districts, and experiences connected 

 ■with sea-waves and earthquakes which have previously occurred in the 

 same locality. 



A full discussion of the phenomena which accompanied this great 

 catastrophe might be divided under two heads, one containing an account 

 of the earthquakes which were recorded, and the other an account of the 

 sea-waves. 



Although one or two houses were destroyed by earthquake movement 

 in Yamada, the greatest destruction was that caused by sea-waves, of 

 which the first three were the greatest. The places which suffered most 

 were Kamaishi, Yoshiyama, and neighbouring towns and villages lying in 

 the inlets of the cliff-bound coasts of Rikuzen and Rikuchu, on the 

 N.E. coast of Nippon. Fishermen twenty or twenty-five miles off shore 

 did not observe anything unusual. 



List 1. — Shocks recorded in Japan on June 15 and 16, 1896. 



