“Severe Earthquake”
Date
5-6-1812
Newspaper
Liberty Hall
Page and Column
Page 3, Column 3
Newspaper Location
Cincinnati, Ohio
Serial Number
519
Abstract
Account of South American earthquake at La Guria on March 20, 1812
Transcript
SEVERE EARTHQUAKE. Extract to a merchant in Philadelphia-dated Ruins of La Guira, April 2, 1812. "SIR-Many times in my life have I experienced the goodness of a merciful God towards me, but never so conspicuously as in my preservation during the tremendous exertion of His power, which has shaken the mountains to their foundation, and levelled the greatest part of this city, as also that of Carraccas, with the ground-thousands and tens of thousands have been buried, and most of them now lie beneath the ruins! The stench arising from the dead bodies is intolerable-such of them as could be come at have been thrown in the sea, or collected in heaps and burned to ashes. It is imagined that seven-eights of the houses in this city are demolished, of and those which still stand, there are not perhaps 20 that will be found tenable. The custom house, which was built very strong, is not much injured-the house which I occupy is three stories high, and was likewise very strong-it stood the shock without falling, but it was so much injured that I do not intend to sleep in it, especially as we are constantly kept in a state of alarm by the frequent shocks which have daily taken place ever since the 26th March. When the first great shock occurred I ran out of my house, and in my amazement, I turned round, and beheld it rocking like a cradle, which, with the roaring of the earthquake, the screams of people, and the crashing of a thousand buildings, made the scene horrible beyond description."
Recommended Citation
"“Severe Earthquake”" (1812). New Madrid Compendium Far-Field Database. 510.
https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/cas-ceri-new-madrid-compendium/510
