File No. 24354/10.
Chargé Monroe to the Secretary of State.
San Jose, May 9, 1910.
Sir: I have the honor to transmit the following report relative to the earthquake that devastated Cartago and some neighboring villages on the evening of May 4 last:
At 10 minutes before 7 o’clock a strong shock was felt in San Jose, but very little damage was done even to buildings that had suffered on April 13 last. I was giving a dinner that evening in honor of the President of the Republic, Señor don Cleto Gonalez Viquez, and a quarter of an hour after the shock the president; the president-elect, Don Ricardo Jiménez; the minister for foreign affairs, Mr. Ricardo Fernandez-Guardia, and his wife, the Mexican chargé d’affairs; and Madame Najara y de Pindter and others arrived. I mention this to show how accustomed we had become to earthquakes since the one of April 13. The shocks, slight ones, continued throughout dinner, and it was not until the next morning that I knew that Cartago had been destroyed. Mr. Gonzalez Viquez and Mr. Jiménez, the President who was inaugurated Sunday, May 6, however, went to Cartago that same evening after leaving this legation.
Since then I have seen the ruined city. It was a town of about 6,000 inhabitants, and it is estimated that 500 people perished in the earthquake. Nearly 400 have already been buried.
Many people were still living in tents, because they dreaded a repetition of the shock of April 13, and this prevented a greater loss of life.
The wounded have been and are being brought to a large temporary hospital here. I have bought sheets, blankets, etc., for this hospital with the money so splendidly and so promptly sent by the American Red Cross. I am using the money where I think it will do the most good.
At present there is money enough; at least, Mr. John Keith, the head of the local association of charities, says there is. Mr. Minor Keith, of the United Fruit Co., sent 25,000 colones (about [Page 412] $11,000 gold), and the Mexican Government sent a like amount. Later on San Jose will probably suffer. The wounded from Cartago are dying daily, and the parks and open places of the city are filled with camps in which few sanitary precautions are taken.
There must still be people buried in the ruins of Cartago, and the work of getting them out seems to go very slowly. To-day the town has been put under martial law.
The Carnegie Court of Peace is in ruins, as may be seen from the inclosed photographs.
So far this legation has not suffered. A little plaster fell and a few glasses were broken; nothing more. I am unable to hear of any Americans who were killed or wounded.
I have, etc.,