EARTHQUAKE IN FIJI

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27151, 22 September 1953, Page 3

EARTHQUAKE IN FIJI

“ Terrifying ” Effects At Suva ACCOUNTS BY TOFUA’S PASSENGERS (Mew Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, September 21. Terrifying experiences in the earthquake and tidal wave that struck Suva last Monday were described by passengers who returned to Auckland in the Tofua today. “It was a perfect day, and then suddenly the earthquake began,” said Mrs F. Thompson. “Everything started to sway, furniture was tossed about, and the noise was terrible. Almost immediately the tidal wave came. It was frightening.” Mr R. Hunt said he was in bed when the earthquake rocked the town. The first he knew about it was when he felt himself being thrown from his bed to the floor.

“I was a bit dazed after I picked myself up and went outside,” he said. “The scene was one of panic. Taxidrivers drove up and down the streets, hooting their horns and seeming to disregard hundreds of alarmed cyclists and pedestrians. I consider it providential that more people were not killed.

“As wild rumours circulated, people who had rushed from their homes raced up and down the streets. They would run in one direction, then turn and run the opposite way. On the whole, the Fijian people themselves were commendably calm.” Mr Hunt said that the earthquake did not compare in severity with the 1931 Napier earthquake, which he experienced, but if the Suva earthquake had lasted longer there would have been nothing left of the town. Pastor K. D. L. Brook, a missionary, who was in the marketplace when the earthquake was felt, said an Indian woman serving him in the market prayed the whole time. From the foreshore, the harbour seemed to empty itself only to be filled again by the tidal wave.

“Although Suva has settled down to comparative calm, there is still a nervous tension among the people,” he said.

The Royal tour arrangements had been set back by the earthquake, said Pastor Brook. Suva was just looking its best in readiness for the tour, and now the work would have to be done again.