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National Geographic : 1919 Sep
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SHATTERED CAPITALS OF CENTRAL AMERICA indications of this. In the case of San Salvador the earthquake doubtless oc curred as a result of the eruption of the lava and the spectacular activity in the old crater that followed it. WHERE MISERY AND MADNESS REIGNED From the vivid story sent to the National Geographic Society by Mrs. Martha Toeplitz, I quote as follows: "It is Corpus Christi day in Salva dor's beautiful and flourishing capital. Churches and dwellings are decorated and the streets filled with a throng in festal mood. The procession approaches, led by a band of musicians fiddling and scraping away in truly Southern fashion. White-clad maidens, with wreaths of flowers and veils flowing in the soft, warm breezes, priests and choir boys, the images of saints borne aloft, and the people-the typical 'festa' crowd. "Suddenly rumbling and grumbling below, darkness, crashing walls, cries and screams from the panic - stricken people. What a never-to-be-forgotten contrast! The bright sky, the festa, the pretty homes and gay shops, the fruit of years of labor and industry wiped out in less time than it takes to tell. "Where there was peace and happi ness, misery and madness reign, and the earth, breathing heavily, shakes as though she wished to rid herself of all man-made ballast. Edifices crumble like packs of cards, showers of brick sweep the air, dull thuds and terrible crashes, screams and prayers for mercy, and with it all the wild, uncanny song .of the church bells. "The world seems to have come to an end and Hell opens her gates. A new crater suddenly forms on the mountain side, acids explode in the drugstores, mains break, and the town, quivering.,in every limb and stone, becomes a sea of flame. "In vain do the bells chime in broken towers; in vain the tears and prayers! The quakes increase in violence till not a house remains standing, and a hundred red tongues of fire lick the ruins in mad fury. "Everything is broken, shattered, and burned; but the furious elements are not yet appeased. Terrific thunder-storms beat down upon the helpless people hud dled together in the park, enter every hole and crack, and destroy whatever the earthquake and fire have left. "Days and nights follow without food or shelter, until very, very slowly the quakes become more infrequent." The first shock at San Salvador came without warning, at 6.50 p. m., June 7, 1917. Although this quake was felt throughout a large part of Central Amer ica and was recorded on the scrolls of seismographs in the United States, it was not the one that did the most serious damage in that city. It appears, how ever, to have been responsible for the opening of the lava vents on the side of the volcano opposite that on which the capital is situated. HOW THE SHOCKS BEGAN The first shock was followed at inter vals of ten minutes by two others- which drove the entire population of the city into the streets and open squares. Then at 9.05 came the heavy shock which caused the greater part of the de struction in San Salvador. An hour or so before this time the sky had been illuminated by the outpouring of liquid stone from the new vents, and it is not impossible that a slumping of the earth's crust under the city itself resulted from the release of pressure after a large quantity of lava had run off. At this time a pounding sensation un der foot was noted, as well as a horizontal wave movement, and cracks are said to have opened and closed. Many persons declare they heard sounds of rushing water and some aver that the water-level in wells rose and sank. But it is too much to ask for steady nerves and scientifically exact ob servations when the earth shakes at night and the lights go out, when the air is filled with shrieks and prayers and chok ing dust, and when in the dark the heavy tiles cascade from the roofs and the walls sway and fall. It is capable of proof, however, that temperatures under the earth's crust near San Salvador were greatly increased. Artesian wells being dug on the Finca Modelo showed at first an increased water pressure and later an increased 187
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