318 



SEKIYA 



the recent catastrophe at Charlestown, says — "As was to he expected, 

 huildings constructed of wood suffered much less than those of hrick. 

 The interior of wooden buildings, however, would often exhibit a 

 scene of total destruction, furniture, book-cases, etc., having evidently 

 moved with great violence." 



Fire-proof stores, or Kvra, suffered severely as to their walls. 

 These buildings have wooden frames, strongly joined by horizontal 

 and vertical pieces, and closely covered with laths, the whole making 

 np a compact box-like structure. The roof is tiled, and carefully 

 plastered with a mud which has a slight cementing property, to the 

 thickness of from three to nine inches. This plaster is put on in 

 several layers, each layer being added after the preceding one has 

 dried. The whole process is an expensive one. The walls, on ac- 

 count of their great thickness and the poor tenacity of the mud, are 

 easily cracked or stripped. As many as sixty or seventy per cent, of 

 the Knra suffered from the recent shock. Fig. 1, Plate XXIII shows 

 one of them with its walls badly damaged, and shows also the method 

 of framing the timbers. It is evident that these thick-walled struc- 

 tures should be replaced by brick buildings, which are equnlly fire- 

 proof and much stronger. 



It may be mentioned, however, that the framework of Kvra, 

 after having been entirely stripped, have withstood the most violent 

 earthquake on record. 



In Yokohama houses are built of different types and with a 

 variety of materials, so that they afford a fair field for the comparison 

 of seismic effects. It is very fortunate that, judging from the effects 

 wrought by the recent earthquake on both land and huildings, the 

 seismic intensity in this town wns less than one-third ofthat in the 

 western or hilly parts of the origin-band. F)ut for this, the results 

 would have been highly disastrous. 



