DEVASTATED AREAS

Evening Star, Issue 23177, 28 January 1939, Page 15

DEVASTATED AREAS

THE CHILIAN EARTHQUAKE EVACUATION OF RUINED CITIES ORDERED RESCUE WORKERS BADLY HANDICAPPED Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright NEW YORK, January 27. Following Government officials’ aerial inspection of the earthquake devastated areas, which they described as “ Dantesque,” complete evacuation and at least temporary if not permanent abandonment of Chilian and Concepcion have been ordered. A long parade of automobiles and vehicles of all descriptions carrying survivors began a trek to the north over dangerous cracked roads. Other survivors are being evacuated by sea. Meanwhile, a pitifully small army of rescue workers, toiling against heavy odds in almost unbearable heat and with insufficient drinking water, bury the dead and aid the injured, who are imprisoned in ruined buildings, and otherwise restore order from indescribable chaos. Among items of serious permanent damage is the tearing up of coal mining districts, where the diggings are in a dangerous condition and miners’ homes have been obliterated. The Argentine, French, German, and American air linos are co-operat-ing in helping the Government to establish contact with the devastated areas. CHAOS AND DEATH TOLL MOUNTING EVERY HOUR. SANTIAGO, January 27. Stories of rich communities destroyed, thousands killed, and hundreds of thousands facing the throat of disease and famine were told in the still fragmentary reports from the earthquake zone. The deaths might reach 20,000 in four cities alone. Officials estimate the dead at Cauquennes at 5,000, at Concepcion 3,000, at San Rosendo 2,000, and at Chilian 10,000, while from a host of villages and small towns the toll has mounted every hour. An offer of aid from President Roosevelt has been received, and a United States army bomber •is expected to leave Panama carrying gangrene and typhoid serums and concentrated foods. NO BRITISH FATALITIES (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, January 27. (Received January 28,.at 11 a.ra.) According to reports from the British Ambassador at Santiago, no British lives were lost at Concepcion or.Emuco.