Quake Devastates Chinese Villages
Thousands Reported Dead; Mountain Split Open
CHENGTU, Szechuan Province, China, Dec. 25.— (AP) —Fragmentary reports from Southern Szechuan Province told today of an earthquake December 18 that shattered entire villages and caused a death toll that may reach thousands. Villages and forts near the tops of the mountain range that extends through the affected region were hurled into the valleys. A mountain was split wide for a distance of a mile. Avalanches
dammed rivers and formed lakes in what formerly were fertile valleys. Szechuan, a fertile interior province, is densely populated, with an
average of nearly 300 persons to the square mile.