Jan 14, 1907 Kingston earthquake The 1907 Kingston earthquake which shook the capital of the island of Jamaica with a magnitude of 6.5 on the moment magnitude scale on Monday January 14th, at about 3:30 pm local time (21:36 UTC), was considered by many writers of that time one of the worlds deadliest earthquakes recorded in history. Every building in Kingston was damaged by the earthquake and subsequent fires, which lasted for three hours before any efforts were made to check them, culminated in the death of 800 to 1,000 people, and left approximately 10,000 homeless and $25,000,000 in material damage. The main shock lasted for about 35 seconds after some minor initial tremors and was accompanied by a roaring sound. The intensity of the shaking grew quickly to a first and strongest climax. The intensity then lessened before again reaching a second weaker climax. There were eighty aftershocks recorded up to 5 February, while the strongest of all was recorded on 23 February. The epicenter of the earthquake is not well constrained. The only seismograph in Jamaica at the time was put out of action by the earthquake. The rupture may have been on an eastward continuation of the South Coast Fault Zone, within the Wagwater Belt or in the Blue Mountains. The greatest felt intensity was noted for areas built on unconsolidated sands and gravels. To the east of Kingston, along the Palisadoes, there were sandblows and surface faulting associated with areas of subsidence and flooding. Shortly after, a tsunami was reported on the north coast of Jamaica, with a maximum wave height of about 2 m (6–8 ft). After the earthquake tsunami were also observed along much of the north coast of Jamaica at Hope Bay, Port Antonio, Orange Bay, Sheerness Bay, Saint Anns Bay, Buff Bay, Port Maria and Annotto Bay; there were also some reports of waves along the south coast. Seiches were reported in Kingston harbour. The level of the sea at Annotto Bay was reported to have initially dropped by more than 3 metres, as the sea withdrew a distance of about 80 m, before returning at a height of about 2 metres above normal, flooding the lower parts of the town. The greatest damage occurred at Kingston and at Buff Bay and Annotto Bay on the northern coast. 85% of buildings in Kingston were destroyed by the shaking, which was followed by a fire that destroyed parts of the business and warehouse districts. The Elder-Dempster passenger steamer Port Kingston, which was under repair in Kingston Harbour at the time, was threatened by fire on the nearby wharf. A rapid temporary repair allowed her to be moved to the unaffected railway wharf before the fire reached her. A suspension bridge was destroyed at Port Maria. The Port Kingston, the only passenger ship in Kingston Harbour, was used as a makeshift hospital, with improvised operating theatres in three parts of the ship and on the adjoining wharf. Kingston Public Hospital(KPH), despite loss of its water supply, continued to function throughout the following night. Three United States warships, USS Missouri, USS Indiana and USS Whipple landed men and supplies on 17 January, although an offer of eight surgeons was rejected by the Governor. Disaster - The Earthquake of 1907 MONDAY, JANUARY 14, 1907, 3:30 p.m. It was a regular day sunny and hot with a cloudless sky and what was said to be a faint breeze. At 3:32 p.m. the city of Kingston was busy enough all was alive and well. Suddenly there came the sound of a rushing, mighty wind, followed by the sound of a train roaring in a tunnel and the violent shaking of the earth so that men and buildings were tossed about like puppets. Screams split the air. Within 10-20 seconds a town of 46,000 had been rendered immobile hundreds lay dead or dying buried beneath mounds of rubble and dust. By 3:33 p.m. three shocks had been felt and every building in Kingston sustained some damage; many in the lower part of the city were destroyed. Accounts of this catastrophe by Sir Frederick Treves and W. Ralph Hall Caine, both published in 1908, report solid brick walls bulging and collapsing, carriages being lifted and flung through the air, telegraph poles swaying like leaves in the wind, and great structures whether made of iron, wood or stone, crumbling. People were simply picked up and tossed while struggling to maintain their balance. More often than not they ended up resembling flailing pawns in an overturned chess game. Those individuals who managed to escape out onto the streets were quickly enveloped in a thick yellow fog punctuated by the sound of crackling and tumbling walls. What many thought were heaps of dust were actually people trying to move in a city that had suddenly become foreign. Within twenty minutes fire blazed through the streets of Kingston and lasted for up to four days in many cases finishing off what the earthquake had started. It was also not long before rampant looting broke out and armed guards had to be posted throughout the city. At the public hospital, there was no way to cope with the number of wounded. At 3:30 on that fateful day there were some 200 patients in hospital, by 5:00 p.m. that number had risen to 800. According to W. Ralph Hall Caine, who observed much of the devastation from the Port Kingston, the ship on which he had sailed to the West Indies with numerous English businessmen, planters and parliamentarians, the sky was a brilliant constellation of glorious lights, the waters over which we passed, dark and awesome, rendered all the more forbidding by the human flotsam and jetsam (from which I must shut my eyes) floating idly on its surface for a ruined city(p. 230). Days later Kingston resembled a ghost town empty, silent, dark and broken. £2,000,000 of damage was assessed and over 800 people lost their lives. The Gleaner and the Jamaica Daily Telegraph published death tolls which were scanned by thousands searching for news of loved ones. Only a few received proper burial. Some were buried in large trenches in the May Pen Cemetery and some were burnt without ceremony. Fortunately within the next few months there was no rain. In Kingston with many people forced to live in the open air, the fear that rain would lead to the outbreak of epidemics like typhoid, dysentery or even the plague was very real. Assistance came from America, England and Cuba in the form of ships laden with provisions, extra surgeons and soldiers. Not all assistance was met with equal grace, however, as there was some concern, even in the face of such unmitigated disaster, that American troops could land on English soil. The idea of taking aid from the Americans apparently did not sit well with all. An American Admiral landed armed marines without the express sanction of Governor Swettenham who asked for their immediate removal. The Americans were insulted, the Governor forced to apologise and shortly afterward, he tendered his resignation. A relief committee was appointed to collect supplies of food and clothing and distribute temporary housing. Over a quarter of a million pounds of aid was sent from England. Hall Caine saw in this annihilation the chance for Kingston to rebuild, bigger and better than before another Kingston, further removed from the harbour, of broader streets and shaded boulevards. Kingston is not Jamaica, he wrote. Theirs is a land of singular beauty, of wood and water, a veritable tropical garden of inexhaustible richness, where anything and everything will grow and prosper. It is a land with a great past and a greater future: if her administrators at home, as well as abroad, will but read their lesson aright, and realize their opportunities today. In May 1907, Governor Olivier began a tenure that lasted until 1913. Under his watch a new city rose from the ruins. The main public buildings on King Street and the public gardens as well as several new roads were built along a basic grid system. Unfortunately, these town planners clearly neither expected the city to grow as much as it did nor did they factor in the vagaries of vehicular traffic both of which have helped to render the city less than orderly. In March 1957, fifty years later, another earthquake, the heaviest since 1907, struck the island. This time the western side was the most affected. Luckily, few lives were lost but there was severe property damage the St. James Parish Church was wrecked and in Port Royal a 180m long strip of coast disappeared beneath the sea. Excerpt from A Special gleaner Feature on Pieces of the Past - Disaster the Earthquake of 1907 - The First 500 Years in Jamaica by Rebecca Tortello
Posted on: Sat, 18 Jan 2014 20:26:32 +0000
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