← Covering Palestine

The Morning Union · Springfield, Massachusetts · 15 July 1927

CP-1927-017

670 Killed, 3000 Injured in Palestine Earthquake

Terrible Scene of Destruction in Ancient City of Nablus; Property Damage $2,000,000 — Majority of Dead Arabs.

Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Jerusalem

670 Killed, 3000 Injured in Palestine Earthquake — The Morning Union, 15 July 1927
The Morning Union · Springfield, Massachusetts · 15 July 1927

Transcribed from the clipping

“JERUSALEM, July 14 — (Jewish Telegraphic Agency) Latest estimates of the earthquake casualties place the number killed in Palestinian and Transjordanian cities and villages at 670, and the injured at 3000. The property damage was estimated today to be $2,000,000. Reports which are being received here hourly from various sections of the country add to the number of casualties and the amount of damage to property. The Arab cemeteries are full of mourners. A terrible picture of destruction is to be seen at Nablus, the biblical city of Shechem, seat of the ancient Samaritan sect and home of a large Arab population. With the exception of two streets, the entire city lies in ruins. Rescue parties are at work extricating the bodies of victims from among the ruins in Nablus and neighboring villages. Many of the injured are dying. Rescue work is also being carried on in Ramleh. No Jewish Casualties. The fact that no casualties have been reported among the Jewish population is considered by the orthodox Jews as a miracle. The rabbis of Jerusalem have passed a proclamation calling upon their people to assemble in the synagogs to offer thanksgiving for their deliverance and to pray that the disaster will not reoccur. The losses suffered by the Jews are mainly damages to property. A delegation representing the Jewish population of Palestine will proceed to Basle, Switz., to appear before the forthcoming Zionist congress which will open there on Aug. 30. The delegation will ask for funds to repair the damage wrought by the earthquake. Experts have examined the historic buildings and have ascertained that the important edifices in Jerusalem and the provinces need repairs, especially the minaret of the Harem-Es-Sherif and the Chapel of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives, which have been badly damaged. The upper part of the minaret has been broken off.… Racial, religious and political differences, which usually divided the population of Palestine, are for the present forgotten, as the extent of the loss to life and property is being ascertained. The common spirit of humanity in the face of disaster is inspiring speedy measures of relief in which Jew and Arab, Moslem and Christian, are joining hands. Quake Destroyed Wilhelm’s Picture. JERUSALEM, Palestine, July 14 — (AP) Examination of the wreckage of Government House, badly damaged in Monday’s earthquake, revealed that a stone from a partially wrecked tower hurtled through the roof of the chapel destroying a picture of the former German Emperor in Biblical robes… A prominent Moslem architect, after an examination of the temple area, placed the total damage there at less than $5000.”

Context added by this archive

The third American printing of this earthquake held here, and the third casualty figure: seventy-odd in the Waco paper on 14 July, six hundred and seventy here on the 15th, two hundred in Milwaukee on the 22nd. All three count the dead the same way. Waco names the one Christian, one Samaritan and one Jew among them. Milwaukee’s deck says no Jews killed. This one says Majority of Dead Arabs in the deck and carries a subheading, No Jewish Casualties, above a paragraph about thanksgiving services. It is also the only one of the three to record the Arab cemeteries full of mourners, the broken minaret of the Haram al-Sharif, and relief work in which Jew and Arab were joining hands.

Cite this item

"670 Killed, 3000 Injured in Palestine Earthquake," The Morning Union, 15 July 1927. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1927-017. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1927-017

Elsewhere in the archive

This record is part of Covering Palestine, an archive of American and Anglophone newspaper clippings about Palestinians, 1812 to 2022. Researched and assembled by Maria Robles.

The clipping belongs to the newspaper that printed it, or to the wire service that supplied the copy. It is reproduced here for research, criticism and commentary. The city is derived from the masthead, not read off the clipping.

Something wrong here, or something you know about this clipping? The archive is still being built and corrections are wanted: maria@rozumstudio.com, quoting CP-1927-017.

See it in the archive reel · Full text of every clipping · Dataset