Current Topics and Events

Abstract

THE terrible calamity in Japan caused by an earthquake on Saturday last, September i, arouses the most profound sympathy in the scientific world, in which every one has the highest regard for the brilliant achievements of the Japanese. It is reported that the cities of Yokohama and Tokyo, including the Imperial University buildings, have practically been destroyed and that as many as 300,000 persons have lost their lives. The catastrophe is therefore one of the greatest ever recorded, and Japan will need all the help which other nations can give in order to recover from it. The chief shocks occurred about noon on Saturday and were recorded at 4-h. nm. 18s. on Saturday morning on Mr. J. J. Shaw's seismograph at West Bromwich, Birmingham, as well as at other seismological stations throughout the world. The earthquake was preceded by a typhoon; and it will be remembered that the Messina-Reggio earthquake at the end of 1908, when 77,000 lives were lost, was similarly preceded by torrential rain. It is reported that the Osaka Observatory places the seismic centre in the Izu Peninsula. When, in 1906, an earthquake wrecked a great part of the city of San Francisco, the terrible fire which broke out immediately afterwards completed the destruction, and this appears to have been the course of events at Tokyo and Yokohama. As is usual, high sea-waves, often incorrectly called “tidal waves,” have flooded low-lying land and thereby added to the destruction and casualties. Most Japanese earthquakes originate in the great trough of the ocean floor, nearly 5 miles deep, known as the Tuscarora Deep, between the Kurile Islands and the coast of Japan. This was the place of origin in 1896 when the coast of Japan was devastated by three great waves, the largest about 50 feet in height, which caused the destruction of 20,000 lives in a few minutes. The Messina-Reggio earthquake similarly originated beneath the sea and a destructive sea-wave rose to a height of 25 feet and swept over the coasts on both sides of Messina Strait. Japan has suffered grievously from earthquakes and effects caused by them, but the catastrophe of Saturday last seems to have been the worst that it has experienced, and the Japanese people will need great fortitude in order to face the future with the confidence in which they have met other trials in the past.