EPICENTRAL AND SEVERELY SHAKEN AREAS. 47 



down from the walls running in a S.E. direction. The principal 

 damage in this house was done upon the S.W. side, the rooms 

 on the N.E. being scarcely affected. It was noticed later that 

 shocks in the town, half a mile away in the valley, occurred there 

 one or two seconds before they were felt in the Deputy Commis- 

 sioner's house. 



In Momeik an account was kept by two traders in the bazaar. 

 They felt the chief shock of the day at about 9 a.m., or at 

 about the same time as the chief shock seems to have been ex- 

 perienced in Mogok, In this case the sounds were heard coming 

 from the S.W., and shortly afterwards the earthquake came mov 

 ing towards the N.E. The pagoda in the centre of the town 

 crumbled on its N.E. side and various other pagodas fell. The 

 duration of the shock is said to have been about 8 minutes in Momeik 

 and while it lasted about 100 cups and glasses in the bazaar were 

 broken. During the day 11 shocks are said to have occurred 

 here, and the lands near the Xammeik and Nammaung streams 

 close to Momeik cracked in several places, the direction of the 



cracks being E. W. 



In Thabeikkyin as already stated, the time when the first shock 

 was felt was 10 a.m. It was preceded by a tremor, and '.) dis- 

 tinct shocks at intervals of a minute or two are said to have 

 occurred. The direction is believed to have been from S.W. to 

 N.E., because the trees swayed to the N.E., and the pagodas 

 crumbled on that side too. The same thunderous murmur was 

 noticed before the shocks, and during their continuation hanging 

 lamps swung S.W. N.E. Pagodas at Thindaing and Kyahnyat 

 are reported to have crumbled away from the N. E. side. The 

 floor of both rooms of the Sub-divisional Officer's house cracked, 

 the crack running in the direction of the tremor. In Thabeikkyin 

 people suffered from giddiness for 5 or 6 days afterwards. 



The Deputy Commissioner then goes on to give an account 

 of a phenomenal rise in the Irrawaddy which he witnessed at 

 Tagaung on May the 24th. The rain was torrential and in 24 

 hours the river rose 3 feet at this point, but he is unable to say 

 whether this was merely an exaggeration of the normal state of 

 affairs at the commencement of the rains. It was subsequently 

 reported that during the earthquake the dry sand-banks in the 

 river blew up and cracked, and that the same torrential rains 

 and sudden rise had been noted on the Shweli, which runs through 



