WRECK OF JAPANESE CITIES

Evening Post, Volume 91, Issue 91, 15 October 1923, Page 7

WRECK OF JAPANESE CITIES

AUSTRALIAN MISSION ARRIVES

■WARM EXPRESSION OF GRATITUDE.

(UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION.—COPIMOHT.)

(SPECIAL 10 PRESS ASSOCIATION.)

TOKIO, 13th October. The Australian relief ship Australmount has arrived.

The greater part of Tokio lies in ashes. It is an appalling and staggering sight. The latest figures give the killed at 78,000 and the missing at 120,000. Few buildings are left untouched. The Press and leaders of the people expressed to the visitors their profound gratitude for the help extended by Australia, America, Canada, and other countries, to Japan in her hour of affliction. Such tokens of friendship and good will had deeply touched the people, and will never be forgotten.

From Yokohama to.Tokio, a 1 distance of 18 miles, the country presents a scene of pitiable" desolation. Hardly a house escaped damage. Big landslides and great fissures are to he seen. Bridges are down and the railway is destroyed in places, and much rolling stock irreparably damaged. But the people are now calmer and Btolid, and determined to rebuild a greater city. Dr. Beard, an American city planner, is hers to help in the great task. RUINS STILL SMOULDERING

The earthquake shocks were responsible for many deaths, but the greatest number of lives lost was in the fireS, as a result of the flimsy character o! the houses in tha congested area. The new city will be planned on more modern lines. The conflagration lasted two days and nights. The ruins are still smouldering in some places. Tokio's material losses are estimated at over a thousand millions sterling. Great barracks, and thousands of tents have been erected to afford temporary housing for the stricken people. The Government is applying itself in a wonderful manner to the task of sheltering, feeding, and clothing the people, and tending the injured and sick. The American Red Cross is rendering invaluable assistance. It is estimated that 500,000 people are unemployed. Nineteen thousand factories have been destroyed. TRAGIC CONDITIONS Food 'and clothing sent from other parts of Japan and other countries are now so plentiful that no fear is entertained in that respect, but few people possess more than they stand in, their homes and all their possessions having gone. There is tragic distress on all sides, and bodies are still being unearthed from the debris, which lies in great tangled heaps. The naval and military authorities are conducting salvage work, thousands being employed in clearing the ruins. Fortunately the weather is cooler, and the rainy season has set it, otherwise a serious epidemic would be certain. Numerous cases of typhoid and dysentery are reported, but no great epidemic is feared. The Austrahnount's shipment included a large quantity of medical .stores, .which, are much needed and appreciated.

ORIGiN OF THE EARTHQUAKE

Yokohama is a city of smells, that of sulphur being mixed with that of the decaying matter. Tokio is less objectionable m this respect, but many canals are stagnant through the breakdown of the -waterworks, and this is causing typhoid. The authorities are overcoming tins as rapidly as possible. It is not unnatural that in the first excitement many incorrect statements were made. For instance, it was cabled to Australia that the earthquake was caused by an active volcano on the Island of Oshima erupting and then sinking into the sea, and later reappearing. When approaching Yokohama Captain James, of the Australmount, sent a wireless^ message asking for any change in sailing directions, and got a reply from an American ship that there was no special change. Oshima Island is seven miles long, and forty miles from Yokohama, and was not much affected and no light was visible at Tokio. It is now stated that the earthquake originated in the sinking of the bed of the sea north of Oshima, in Sagami Bay. Soundings show a greater depth than before the earthquake.