204 REPORT— 1898. 



No. 104, June 3, 1897. 



H. M. 8. 



Catania 9 53 42 



Rocca di Papa 9 54 30 



Shide 9 57 18 



Edinburgh 10 57 



Nicolaiew not -working. Also recorded at other stations in Italy. At 

 Shide there are three maxima phases of movement. 



iVb. 105, June 12, 1897. 



This earthquake is one which created so much destruction in Assam 

 that it is intimated, in order to repair roads and buildings of the Public 

 "Works Department only, more than thirty-five lakhs of rupees will be 

 required. The total cost of the earthquake is probably many times this 

 sum. To meet the expenditure for the restoration of roads, &c., appli- 

 cation has been made for a grant from the Imperial revenues, and we 

 have here an illustration, which is repeated yearly, of the manner in 

 which an earthquake in a distant country may affect directly or indirectly 

 the finances of people in this country. To mitigate the effects of these 

 disasters it is necessary that the ordinary practice of the engineer and 

 builder should be modified, and to this end I am glad to say that this 

 Association has lent support by the publication of several reports bearing 

 upon construction in earthquake countries. The more important of these 

 were issued in 1889 and 1891, and the substance of them has been most 

 carefully considered in connection with the reconstruction of railways and 

 other works now in progress in North-eastern India. 



This earthquake, which had its origin in a well-known seismic district, 

 is probably the most severe and disastrous which, during historical times, 

 has been experienced in this region. One evidence of this is the snapping 

 and overturning of a number of ancient monoliths in the Khasi Hills. 

 J. C. Arbuthnott, Deputy Commissioner of this district, who describes 

 these stones, says : — ' It would possibly give people in England an idea of 

 the severity of the shock were the Druidical stones at Stonehenge and 

 Stennis, in Orkney, similarly overthrown or broken in two.' Similar 

 evidence is found in the destruction of a stone bridge in the Kamriip 

 district of very great antiquity. 



Records. — In the Isle of Wight, strange to say, the movements of the 

 ground commenced whilst the photographic film was being renewed, an 

 operation that only happens once a week. The time record, therefore, 

 only refers to maxima phases of motion and those which followed. 



The greatest range of motion was 15 mm., corresponding to a change 

 in slope of about five seconds. 



A horizontal pendulum recording N.-S. motion on smoked paper indi- 

 cated a maximum range of motion of 10 mm. and a period of 15 

 seconds. The following are the time records : — 



I 



Shide . . . 11 29 10 Max. The preliminary tremors exceed 



10 minutes ; therefore the commence- 

 mftnt may have been 11 hrs. 19 mins. 



Catania 



Rocca di Papa 



Edinburgh . 



Strassburg . 



Batavia . . . 11 16 40 By electrometer disturbance. 



