“Further particulars”

Date

5-14-1812

Newspaper

Augusta Herald

Page and Column

Page 2, Column 4

Newspaper Location

Augusta, Georgia

Serial Number

772

Abstract

Letter from a merchant at LaGuria who describes the damage there from the earthquake March 26, 1812

Transcript

Further particulars of the dreadful Calamity at Caraccas. Extract of a letter from a Merchant in Laguira to his Correspondent in New-York, dated April 1st. You will perceive by this that I am still alive, although the danger and misery we have all been in since my last are beyond discription. On the 26th ult. at P. M. we had an earthquake here, which has compleatly ruined this part of the province. Not a house is standing that any person would venture to remain in a single hour, and nine tenths of the town are level with the ground. From twenty-five hundred to three thousand persons, it is calculated, have lost their lives. Carraccas has shared the same fate. I was there at the time the dreadful catastrophe happened, and escaped by running from the house into a large court yard in which nothing could fall upon me, where I remained until it was over. We have had one or more shocks every day since. There is not a house in Laguria, nor more than fifty in the whole city of Carraccas, but will have to be pulled down, or the places completely abandoned which latter I think will be the case, and cities and towns built in places adjacent and of wood. Ten thousand lives are said to be lost in Carraccas; but it is impossible to tell to a certainty. They have been digging out the bodies ever since, and burning them. It is shocking to see, at the close of the day, heads, arms, and legs, that have been left unburnt as the fire dies away; and the stench is terrible. Every person is ordered out of Carraccas except labourers to avoid a pestilence. Three-fourths of the wealth of Carraccas are lost; and as no day has yet passed without a shock, we are waiting with fear and trembling to know when it will be entirely over, or what the effect of the next shock will be. All foreigners, and every person having the means, are leaving the place for the Islands and elsewhere. There is a report that Porto-Cavello is safe. if so, numbers will flock to it; but a long time will be required to make it a place of extensive business. I should have left this with others, had I not thought it my duty to stay to attend to your interests. What is your loss, it is impossible for me to say. Two American vessels have arrived since, and the government has seized them, but they will be allowed to go to Porto-Cavello; they are addressed to Mr. Lowry, and he goes with them. "Lumber and provisions will sell well here; the former will be in great demand for some time to build with, as, the people now live in an open common. I write this on my lap."

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