11 APRIL 1931, Page 2

The Earthquake in Nicaragua The Nicaraguan earthquake which razed Managua

to the ground killed about 5,000 of its inhabitants. Pity and horror are almost numbed by disaster so swift and appalling. The subsequent distress was alleviated, so far as that was possible, by the devotion of the U.S. Marines, who carried out rescue work and controlled panic. The effect of the earthquake on the projects for a Nicaraguan canal, as a supplementary inter-oceanic link to that at Panama, is still uncertain. Surveys which had just been completed indicate a route 177 miles long. But Congress has yet to decide upon the construction.