Catalogue of Violent and Destructive Earthquakes in the Philippines | Page 3

but not the day of the month; while of another (No. 38) the hour has been preserved for posterity, but whether the phenomenon occurred during February or March, the records leave undecided. In the third column will be found, in the first place, the intensity of the disturbance, Roman numerals representing the degrees of the scale of De Rossi-Forel (I-X); then the region affected most, and finally the damages caused, if known, and other information, if available.
In describing the epicentral regions, the present distribution of the Archipelago into provinces has been used throughout the catalogue. This division is shown on the first of the two maps of the Philippines which accompany this catalogue (Plate I). As to the designation "Benguet" occasionally occurring in the text where provinces are enumerated, but not found on the map, we beg to offer the excuse that the region thus named is exceedingly well known in the Philippines as it contains Baguio, the health resort of the Islands. For the readers outside of the Archipelago we remark that Benguet is at present a subprovince of the Mountain Province, of which it forms the southernmost part. The location of Baguio is shown on the map on Plate II. A similar remark applies to Lepanto and Bontoc, likewise divisions of the Mountain Province, whose capitals, Cervantes and Bontoc, are indicated on the same map.
As we would hardly be justified in assuming that every reader is in possession of a detailed map of the Philippines, and a knowledge of the general distribution and the main directions of the principal mountain systems of an earthquake country is important, we add a second map on which these data are shown by means of dashes, together with the most important seismic regions, and the positions of the principal towns, bays, etc., mentioned in the text. (Plate II.)
Near the left margin of this second map will be found an index of the seismic regions just mentioned, each of them being represented by its ordinal number (large Roman figures). Near each of these ordinals is placed the corresponding number of earthquakes since 1862 contained in the catalogue (Arabic figures), which is followed, in brackets, by an analysis of the said number, in which Roman figures designate the degrees of the earthquake, scale of De Rossi-Forel, while small Arabic figures, written like exponents, give the number of earthquakes of each degree of intensity.
In drawing the map on Plate II it was not intended to represent the epicentric area of every individual earthquake center (which would have crowded the map beyond reasonable limits), but rather to show the principal seismic regions. Hence most of these curves contain more than one focus. The approximate position of each of the latter has, however, been indicated by a star, while the figure placed close to the star gives the number of earthquakes which proceeded from the said center.
A word must be said in apology for the constant use in the following list of the Spanish word "convento." This word which means monastery, cloister, or convent, is universally used in the Philippines to designate also the habitation of the clergy attached to a parish church. Although these are, as a rule, spacious buildings and were formerly inhabited well-nigh exclusively by friars, they can not properly be called monasteries. Wherefore, in order to avoid lengthy circumlocutions, the Spanish word "convento" has been retained.
The reader who is not familiar with this country may find it strange that in reporting earthquake damages so much emphasis appears to be laid on the harm done to churches and conventos. This is easily explained by the fact that these buildings were often the only structures within the meizoseismal area, and built nearly everywhere in the most substantial manner.
In the present catalogue we have also included, by way of an appendix, the earthquakes which are known to have occurred in the Marianas or Ladrones group of islands. While their number is too small to warrant separate publication, we believe that the data concerning them will be welcome to the earthquake investigator.

CATALOGUE OF VIOLENT AND DESTRUCTIVE EARTHQUAKES IN THE PHILIPPINES.
----+--------------------+-----+------------------------------------------ No. | Date. |Intensity. | | | Epicenter and effects. ----+--------------------+-----+------------------------------------------ | Y. M. d. h. m. | | 1 |1599 VI 25 3 20 | IX |Manila and neighboring provinces. Damaged | | |many private buildings in Manila; cracked | | |the vault of the Jesuit Church so badly | | |that it had to be demolished and replaced | | |by a ceiling; fissured the walls and | | |ruined the roof of Santo Domingo Church. | | | 2 |1600 I 2 0 0 |VIII |Earthquake of destructive force and long | | |duration in Manila; extent of damage | | |unknown. | | | 3 |1600 XI -- -- -- | VI |Violent