SANTO DOMINGO.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20027, 8 September 1930, Page 11

SANTO DOMINGO.

DESTRUCTION OF THE CITY. EIGHTH OF POPULATION WIPED OUT. PROVINCIAL DISTRICTS ALSO STRICKEN. ItJSITBD PRESS ASSOCIATION - -BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH —CO PYKIGHT.) (Received September Cth, 5.5 p.m.) WASHINGTON. Sentember 6. uate reports from Santo Domingo revived on Friday emphasised the destruction which had been wrought by tho hurricane. More than 1200 were killed in Santo Domingo alone, and more than 5000 were injured, while 20,000 are homeless and starving. Bodies ai;o beinsz stacked and burnt to solve tho sanitary problem. Among the buildinus> left is the four liundrecl-year-old cathedral, containing the reputed tomb of Christopher Columbus The interior towns did not suffer severely as the capital. Relief is being dispatched as quickly is possible from all ooints. !tlr Charles Curtis, United Statos Minister to Santo Domingo, announced that a conservative estimate of the dead was 1500, and the injured 5000. Organisation of Belief. Two United States marine corps aeroplanes fro a Haiti arrived witu medical supplies. No shipping can finer thb port because of the swiftness of the current. The capital is sti<l isolated on the land side by floods, fallen trees, and wrecked bridges. The electric and watei plants have broken down. at)d are not functioning. The American Red Cross lias contributed 50.000 dollars towards the rehabilitation ot the sufferers, and much more is expected from private sources. The United States marine comman dor in Haiti has asked Santo Domingo to prepare a landing place, as he waa planning to establish a regular aero plane transportation service to carry the supplies. The Dominican Government is organising mobile kitchens to the homeless, while Haiti is sending relief by motor lorries overland, but it is feared that the condition of the roads might prevent their arrival. The Cuban Government has sent eight physicians by and has ordered the cruiser Patria to proceed immediately with food and medicines. Huncer is stalking through the debris-filled streets, although many thousands have been provided with emergency rations. Relief ships are being rushed to the scene. The British, American, Cuban, Mexican, Spanish, French, and Haitien Legations were demolished. Scenes of Horror. Later advices place the death-roll at at least 4000. and it ib feared that it would reach 5000. Only four hundred of 10.000 houses in tho city are standing. Thirty per cent.'ot the more than five thousand injured are exoected to die. Fifty mothers of new-born babies were killed in the collapse of one maternity hospital, many being decapitated by sheets of zinc with which the building was lined, A United States marine officer saia. "It is as if a giant hand had smeared the town like a toy then stirred the pieces with a stick. There is no water fit to drink. The waterworks have been demolished, the river is a sea ot mud, and the floods have washed out newlv buried dead and the coffins float round like rorks. The dead are being collected in mounds, and trenches are being dug for burial. They are aJso being bnrned above ground, concrete cisterns being used as |» ne ™' cremating as many as fifty bodies at one time." Huge Property Damage. Over an eighth of the population of this oldest white city in the Western Hemisphere has been wiped out. The property damage is now set down at between forty and fifty million dollars. Hour by hour the horror grows as re fugees continue to drift in from the outlying towns bringing in new tales of death and destruction. Along the muddy streets of the city proper and the banks of the river Oz ma, the dead sti lies in piles, a menace to health. All tho available houses, churches, and hospitals are filled with wounded. There is no estimate of the nmnber Of women and infants who weu killed at the maternity hospital, the buildings of which were roofed with zinf. sheets of which were ripped away by the 160 mile per hour gale. The city is still without light, power, or water. Belief Arrives. A squadron of six aeroplanes from Cuba, carrying physicians and medica . supplies, landed this morning, and a ship has arrived with food and medical supplies. Their arrival brought new hope to the little body of local officials who have worked without rest. m the Country. Parties have now penetrated an area up to fifteen miles on every side of Santo Domingo, and report that all is desolation. The injured in the outlying sections, on account of the impassabil. ity of the roads, have little hope of receiving aid for days. The storm wiped out great ato "® °f .<t p . Ruear, cocoa, and fruits which tor were ruined by wind and rain.