TOWN OF DEATH

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 112, 5 February 1931, Page 9

TOWN OF DEATH

Night at Hastings PITIFUL INCIDENTS Dominion Special Service. Hastings, February 4. Hastings was a town of death last night. Beneath its ruins lay the bodies of dozens of men, women and children, but it will be impossible to estimate the death roll until the many bereaved families are able to report. with certainty that members of their households will not return. A total of bodies had been recovered by this morning, but it will be days before a reliable estimate can be qjade. Cut off from the outside world through the severing of its communications at the moment the earthquake occurred, the town did not learn until nearly midnight that its plight was unknown beyond its own immediate preThroughout the" day and far into the night the people underwent a terrifying experience, for from the moment at which the upheaval shattered the district and buried beneath the ruins of the town hundreds of those who were shopping, the earth heaved at frequent intervals. At each successive shake buildings quivered and added heaps of debris to the piles that already crushed the remains of hundreds. It was with cruel suddenness that the first and most devastating shake occurred shortly before 11 o’clock in the morning. Within a minute or even less Hastings had been almost completely razed to the ground. The town was full of shoppers and they were caught like rats in a trap. Buildings of several stories crumpled as if swept aside by the hand of a giant, and before the horrified people had a moment to realise what had happened they were surrounded by the wreckage of what had a moment before been a flourishing centre. With one mighty upheaval Hastings became a vast charnal house. Its streets were dust-fllled gullies in to which sank the remains of shops and stores. Three-storied buildings crumbled with a deafening roar, vomiting great masses of debris in all directions and trapping those who crowded both street and shops. Heretaunga Street, the main thoroughfare, was transformed 1 into a gully of destruction beneath whose ruins could be heard the cries of women and children, but which died within a few minutes to give place to a silence such as might creep over some alpine slope after the passing roar of an avalanche. The destruction was complete. It seemed that even time itself had been obliterated by the upheaval as for one horrified moment the whole town was wrapped in a deathlike silence. The upheaval had come without warning and its momentary passing left everyone spellbound. Dozens who had rushed out of 1 buildings were buried beneath bricks and mortpr as soon as they gained the footpaths. Even had they remained inside there would have been no escape. The staffs of drapery and other stores were crushed beneath the whole weight of buildings as they stood at the counters and those they were serving shared a like fate. , It is feared that the loss,of life at Roach’s store, one, of the largest in the town; will prove the most serious, as it is reported to-night that many of the girl employees have not been seen since. As was the case with other buildings throughout the whole town, the roof of this four-storied structure is almost flat with the ground and its only support is the great pile of bricks that once went to make up walls. The centre of all streets was littered within a few moments with a tangled mass of telephone and electric light wires, veranda poles, great masses of concrete, and furniture hurled from shops and offices. A constable who rushed from the police station immediately after the shake was confronted with the sight of a young girl sitting near the road with her legs severed below the knee. From every direction came the screams of men and women. Some children were crying piteously beneath the ruins of a shop near the remains of the Cosy Theatre. Nothing could be done for them, and it was not long before they were swallowed up in the flames that engulfed the area.

Those who had escaped tore frantically at the piles of debris covering people who had been standing near them when the shock occurred. Rescues were made in many instances with debris falling on every side. The escapes were remarkable. borne people were thrown right into the street to get up and walk away almost unhurt. A porter in the Grand Hotel was on an upper floor. The shock threw the whole building into the street, and the porter went with it. He was recovered some time later little the worse for the experience. The probjietor, Mr. Ross was trapped in a cellar, and it is thought he would have been safe until early next morning, when fire swept the street and consumed what remained of the building. Many motor-cars were buried as they stood beside the kerbs, and in several instances their occupants were engulfed with them. Every few yards there was to be seen a motor-car smashed beyond repair and the wreckage of some had been laid bare by the frantic efforts ot police and civilians to effect rescues. It was impossible to stand on ones feet during the moment of the shock. Two elderly women were thrown completely under a car and they were severely injured, although they escaped with their lives. ; One man was trapped beneath a great pile of bricks from eleven o’clock in the morning until seven o’clock in the evening, and although injured, he greeted his rescuers with a smile. It is believed that dozens of bodies are lying beneath the hopeless tangle where once stood the public library. The building was full of people when the shake occurred. Few were able to run clear and the whole structure collapsed on staff and readers. . , A band of workers spent a great pat t Of the day clearing away piles of rubbish, but the task was hopeless and finally abandoned when it was realised that noone could be alive. The serious general position being realised, numbers of citizens offered services to the police and, with members of the police force staff, they were responsible for wonderful work until practically dawn. Order was maintained in the town and rescue bauds organised and supervised. Great credit must go to the police and to the members of the fire brigade for wonderful rescue work amid falling buildings. Following close upon the earthquake parts of the town were swallowed up in flames. Fire raged in several great piles of debris and spreading to buildings that had not been greatly damaged, it swept through them unchecked. Eire raged through the town all day and it was quite impossible for the brigade to stop it spreading. ', Shakes of various magnitude occurred with little interruption and at about nine o’clock in the evening thousands of people in the wrecked streets were struck motionless by another shake almost as heavy as the first disastrous upheaval. This cut off what water supply the

town had had up to then anjTths fire

raged with even greater vigour.

None would go inside buildings, and those who arrived at Hastings late at night were appalled at the sight of halfdemented women aimlessly wandering the wrecked street# and asking people indis-

criminately if they had seen husbands or children. As the night advanced the stricken town became lighted with the hopeless ■glow of its own funeral pyre. The reflection could be seen for miles. Lighting and gas services were cut off earlier in the day, but the raging fire illumined the remains of the town and showed in pallid relief the faces of men and women who still lingered over piles of debris beneath which it was thought were buried their relatives or their friends. There was no thought of sleep. At two o’clock in the morning small children still stood about fhe streets, but later beds were made up on vacant sections or in the parks. Families refused to return to their houses and mattresses were taken into the centre of the roadways for the night. What damage was done by the earthquakes was rapidly supplemented by the fire. The Bank of Australasia was apparently little damaged by the shock, but the flames reached it in the early hours of the morning and left it a gaunt shell. Wooden buildings had fared best, and it was particularly noticeable that the Albert and Carlton Hotels stood safe and uncracked to all outward appearances. As the dead were recovered the bodies were taken to the morgue and to the Y.M.C.A., at which places there were 39 bodies by dawn. The injured numbered hundreds and the worst cases were taken to the racecourse tea kiosk. Doctors worked there under most trying circumstances and serious operations and amputations were carried out without anaesthetics. In the early hours of the morning a doctor with bloodstained coat hacked his way into ■ chemist’s shop in the town to secure supplies at material® MOdod.