28 NOVEMBER 1891, Page 3

The full accounts of the September earthquakes in Japan reveal

a terrible catastrophe. The shocks were felt in thirty-one provinces, and the towns affected were either destroyed or set on fire, the falling timbers upsetting all lamps and receptacles for hot charcoal. In one town (Ogarki), two thousand persons were burnt alive, and in another (Gifu) they only escaped by flying to the hills. The total loss of life is estimated at five thousand, and the damage done to property must have been prodigious. For example, 350 miles of embankments were destroyed, which:implies the flooding of thousands of square miles. Fortunately, the houses can easily be restored ; and the Japanese are not cowed like other races by earthquake.