The Recent Fayal Earthquake

THE RECENT FAYAL EARTHQUAKE By H. H. Haglund Two thousand three hundred miles almost directly east of New York City, in the little city of Horta, on the island of Fayal, in the Azorean group, is located one of the world's largest cable stations. Here cables owned by five different companies cross one another, and cables from the United States, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Great Britain, Germany, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy and South America meet and interchange traffic. A joint station for all companies is now under construction which will become a veritable communications crossroad in the middle of the Atlantic. For the past six months the writer together with two others have been engaged in installing and testing out new apparatus for the Western Union's high-speed cable from New York which connects here with the countries mentioned. In order not to interfere with the heavy, daytime rush of traffic which is already being handled over this cable, our tests are carried on at night, usually from 1:30 to 7:30 in the morning. After completing our night's work on the morning of August 31, 1926, we went directly to the dock to pay a visit to the captain of the German cable ship N orderney which was in the harbor. We spent some time looking over the ship and its' cargo of cable, inspect- ing the paying out machinery, cable charts, navigating room, sound- ing devices, and so on, and finally accompanied the captain to the bridge. While we stood there the ship gave a sudden shiver, as if a hawser which had been holding it against the pier had suddenly parted. The captain's hurried glance fore and aft disclosed nothing unusual, but the ship continued to shake for what seemed like a long time to us. Then one of our party shouted, "Its an earthquake, look at the town!" Horta, meaning "a garden," is built along the beach and up the hills surrounding a beautiful semi-circular bay. Across the bay and the roadstead between the two islands Pico, a volcanic mountain, on the island of the same name, rises majestically from the water's edge to an elevation of over seven thousand feet. White-painted buildings of the city stand out against the green background of the hills. Here and there churches raise their stately spires, and along the roadways great masses of pale-blue hydrangias line the stone fences. Viewed from a ship in the harbor it is a picturesque and beautiful place. But as we now looked, an entirely different aspect drew our attention, for now before our eyes, as if we were spectators at a theatre, walls tumblc-d and buildings fell. As each fell a great cloud of dust arose marking the spot where a wall or perhaps a home, some

THE RECENT FAYAL EARTHQUAKE 171 of them hundreds of years old, had stood. To the left of us from an ancient volcanic cinder mountain, a landslide took place, raising a cloud of dust which the wind carried as far as the ship on which we were standing. The boiler in the city power plant burst, and we could see the columns of steam pouring out from every part of Above, A street in Flamengos; below: Santa Antonio Church, Hasta, Azores the building. And then almost immediately, as if to remind us that this was real, not just a picture enacted for our enjoyment or amuse- ment, a great wail broke out from the fear-stricken people themselves. I think I shall never forget this cry of agony. It came to us

172 IMPROVEMENT ERA from all directions, it was reflected towards us by the hills and it brought us, who were just out of reach of the city's danger, a realiza- tion of the calamity that had befallen the little town. Before we went ashore we obtained glasses and surveyed the damage from a distance. Near the shore, we could see one family hurrying to get out of their house. The entire end wall of the place had dropped out. High up on the hillside the church of Santa Antonio was completely wrecked, only the right hand tower and the altar alcove remained standing. Almost everywhere we looked, fallen roofs and walls could be seen. In a few moments we hurried ashore, anxious to find out if any of our own friends had met with injury. At the Western Union office we found all our personnel, as well as that of the other cable companies, had been accounted for and were unhurt. The office which is temporarily located in a remodeled warehouse, while the new office is being built, had not suffered severely, there were large cracks in the end walls but the side walls which carry the floor load had given only a little. The other cable companies' offices were also in fair condition. At the little public park or "Largo" we found most of our people. The ladies were accumulating their most needed belongings in our little bathing hut on the beach. The apartment house in which many of our people lived was ruined; the front wall was standing but leaned heavily over the street. The quarters of the German cable company's staff was badly wrecked. But we were all unhurt and therefore felt thankful for our safety even as we stood sadly by while, on hurriedly constructed stretchers, wounded and dying were carried past the Largo to the hospital. After the first hour of excitement and panic was over, we returned to the office, where we sent messages of assurance to our folks at home, as well as informed our home offices the extent of the damage. Our building engineers went out to inspect the new buildings which Stone & Webster of Boston are putting up for us. These buildings are being built under the supervision of American engineers and mechanics, and, with the exception of the stone, from American ma- terials. They were found to be unhurt. Even in the excitement of the time I could not but think that this was an excellent recom- mendation for American material and workmanship, specially in these times when so many people are making a great cry that American building is not what it ought to be or used to be. These houses were practically the only ones in town that suffered no damage. Our next thought was to make plans for the immediate future. Most of our houses were not fit to go back to, so in the afternoon every man turned out to clear up two of the new houses that were far enough along to promise shelter in case of rain. A lean-to kitchen was constructed against the wall of a third house and by evening about seventy men and women were housed and the following day meals were served to our gang on the lot. To be sure, we were huddled

THE RECENT FAYAL EARTHQUAKE 173 together, but we all had some sort of bed and food, and we felt that we might well feel glad that we did not have to join the many who had spent the night sitting around or trying to sleep in the little Largo. Almost two weeks have passed since the quake. Fortunately there has been no suffering for food and no sickness, and the weather has been fine. Buildings considered dangerous have been or are being pulled down, engineers are inspecting every building and when they Left: Home in Flamengos, a little town just above Horta, which was worse damaged than Horta, perhaps, because houses here belonged almost exclusively to workingmen, and were poorly constructed. Right: Conccicao church, Horta, Azores. leave the building the door is marked with white, red or black paint; a great many with black, signifying that the house must be razed, others red and black to indicate to the owner that the house cannot be occupied until adequately repaired. A few are marked white and into these the people are slowly moving from the Largo, but in the evenings, as dusk comes on, you will find them all sitting in the doorways, seeking safety in the open, for fear that another quake may still follow and finish what remains of the homes that have housed their for- bears perhaps for hundreds of years. Horta, Fayal, Azores