CHAPTER III. 
THE AREA ENCLOSED BY ISOSEIST No. 3. 
The chief places situated within tlic area enclosed by this isoseist 
are Agaitala, Akhauia, Brahnianbaria, Kishorganj, and Sylhet, and 
the tea gardens of the Langla, and Juri areas. At Agartala nearly 
all masonry buildings were damaged, some seriously. The domes 
of the palace and the inner walls were cracked badly, and four 
domes of the Lakshminarayan temple collapsed. The residence 
of the Private Secretary also suffered ^severely. The upper storey 
of the Kunjabon palace was so seriously cracked that it had to be 
subsequently dismantled. During the earthquake shock, the ground 
cracked and sand and water spouted out in numerous places and 
long fissures appeared generally running parallel to a road or embank- 
ment. In places the ground sank into small hollows. 
At Akha\ira the brick portion of the railway station collapsed 
completely, and the other railway buildings suffered severely. The 
damage done to the railway station was much greater than might 
have been expected and the explanation is, I think, that the mortar 
used in its construction was of very poor quality and consequently 
tlic building was weak and easily broken. I brought some of the 
mortar away and it consists mainly of mud, and can be crushed 
between the finger and thumb with ease. The iron-girder foot- 
bridge which crosses the railway line at the north-west end of the 
station had some hand-rails bent at its western end. A four-foot 
iron water-tank in the Assistant Engineer's bungalow which stands 
on a staging 25 feet high was shifted about three inches to the west 
and slightly to the north. The tank was fidl at the time of the 
earthquake. A trestle drawing- table in the Assistant Engineer's 
Office which stood east-west fell over towards the west. In almost 
every case cross walls in the railway quarters running east-west 
were found to have diagonal cracks from the wall plate on the west 
to the ground on the east. The shock at Akhaura is described as 
being first a ti'emble, then a rolling west to eaf^t, then a violent 
vertical movement followed again by a more violent east and west 
( I'J ) 
