THOUSANDS DEAD

Evening Star, Issue 21621, 17 January 1934, Page 6

THOUSANDS DEAD

THE INDIAN EARTHQUAKE STRICKEN COUNTRYSIDE,, Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright CALCUTTA', January 16. (Received January 17, ; at 10.35 a.m.)] Further earthquake shocks were felt at intervals throughout the day in Cal* cutta and the whole of North-eastern; India. 1 > The death roll is steadily growing* An aerial survey of the stricken ateal around Mussafarpore shows, that the town is in ruins. The death roll among the Indians is over 1,000. Corpses are lying in the streets and hundreds are buried under the debris. Scarcely a house is standing. The country around is flooded by water which suddenly spouted from fissures which appeared as a result of the earthquake.’ Bridges were broken and railway lines d*< stroyed. The death roll must amount ip thousands. There is no way of ascertaining the total yet. Thirty-three persons are dead ('at Jamalpur, and twelve at Bihar. Terrific damage was done to property. The telephone, telegraph, electric light* and water. supply services were paralysed. ' There was tremendous relief when it became known that Darjeeling And Shillong had escaped comparatively, lightly with a, few' deaths. ! Lucknow, Cawnpore, and Benares suffered heavily. Collapsing dwellings rendered thousands homeless. It is amazing that the .casualties were relatively so few. ■ . ’ -^■' In Patna it is officially , stated that sixty-on© persons are dead and 400 injured. Four thousand houseswere .'demolished. The town is in darkness* The hospitals are fall.'

TRAIL OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION SEVERAL DISTRICTS .UNDER WATER CALCUTTA, January 16.(Received January 17, at 12.15 p.m.)] Airmen who made a survey of the Mussafarpore area say that water .is covering the whole district to a depth of sft. The tops of some houses are. visible, but; most of; thein ;,are covered* The area in North-west Mussafarpote; i* badly affected; in fact, the whole country there is a large expanse of; water* All buildings crashed or are inundated*

Motihari and Barrah are both, in ruins and nearly all the railway bridges were destroyed. -The whole of this area is,also under water.,' .....

At Setemarthi sill railway bridges ate down, roads and fields flooded, and railway lines, a mass of twistid steel. All the houses were destroyed at Dogra, and the railway workshops collapsed at Jamulpur, killing and .injuring an unknown number of. workers and their, wives and children.

Two European and Indian .official* perished in a bungalow which crashed* A station roof collapsed on an incoming train. ’ J ■

The maharajah’s great palace at Benares was partially wrecked. The minarets and domes of famous mosques and temples crashed to the ground* Three hundred housos collapsed at Cawnpore.

Shocks were felt as far away as Bombay and Jodhpur, and slight damagaj was done to the Government secretariat buildings at New Delhi.