LAND OF EARTHQUAKES

Evening Star, Issue 18394, 1 October 1923, Page 5

LAND OF EARTHQUAKES

OSAKA AND KOBE SHAKEN.

NO DAMAGE REPORTED,

Press Association —Bj Telegraph—Copyright

TOKIO, September 29,

A sharp vertical earthquake was felt at Osaka and Kobe tJiis- morning. The origin is believed to be local. No damage has so far been reported.—Reuter.

CLEANING UP AT YOKOHAMA,

A NIGHTMARE,

TOKIO, September 29. Trains are now running between here and Yokohama, but the stations are mere masses of old junk, masonry, and iron. _ The soldiers have cleared the debris from most of the main streets, but the visitor has the utmost difficulty in trying to locate the sites, which are now well nigh undiscoveraihlo. The tramcars in which the roasted bodies of the, passengers remained for days have been cleared away, but the labor'of extricating_ Hie bodies from the wreckage continues. Ibis task is a nightmare for the spectator, owing to the difficulty and impossibility of showing any sign of reverence for the charred remains, which are dragged together with instruments resembling butchers’ hooks. They are carried in rough litters to the chamel-bonso, where they are burned in heaps (by oil flames. Meanwhile the bereaved survivors continue seeking the remains of their relatives. Sometimes distracted devotion goes the length of formally burying a discovered hone or limb, hoping it may belong to the vanished beloved. The Japanese continue nevertheless to show a superb concerted will towards restoration. despite the surounding woe and misery.—A. and N.Z. Cable. COAST AFFECTED. TOKIO, September 29. (Received October 1, at 10.5 a.m.) The late earthquake caused an alteration in the coast at the bottom of the Bose Peninsula. Some fishing ports can no longer be used. —Sydney ‘ Sun ’ Cable.

THE IMPERIAL FAMILY.

THE DEAD AND THE LIVING,

TOKIO, September 29, (Received October 1, at 10.5 a.m.)

The Imperial ancestors arc now being ceremonially informed of the details of the earthquake and the fires. The Emperor’s messenger is visiting the tombs of the Emperors to read an announcement of the disaster. The Prince Regent conducted an announcement ceremony before the sacred mirror on the Imperial Palace at Tokio. A messenger wa-s also sent to the Grand Shrines of the Shinto faith to invoke peace and safety for .la,pan. The Emperior and Empress are taking up their winter residence in the Sums. Palace, near Kobe, the palace at Tokio being uninhabitable. The Emperor and Empress are setting example in economy, and have cut the palace menus to one dish in addition to rice,—Sydney ‘ Sun ’ Cable.