BIG ’QUAKES IN BURMA

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 May 1930, Page 5

BIG ’QUAKES IN BURMA

HUNDREDS KILLED & WOUNDED

MUCH PROPERTY DAMAGE

[BY CABLE—PRESS ASSN.—COPYRIGHT.]

(Received May. 7, 8 a.m.) DELHI, May 6.

Over fire' hundred are feared to be dead in Pegu (Burma) as the result of an earthquake followed by fire and a tidal wave from the rivers of Pegu and Sittang last night.. Rail and telegraph communication is cut off. Medical aid is being rushed by road.

Fifty were killed and over two hundred injured at Rangoon where the shock were the worst in living memory. Many buildings, including the High Court and Catholic Cathedral were severely damaged. The majority of the casualties occurred at the Mosque, and a five storey building which collapsed burying all the occupants alive.

The population fled panic stricken from the houses, to spend the remainder of the night in the parks and open spaces.. ■ FIRE’S DEADLY HAVOC.

TIDAL WAVE SWAMPS REFUGEES. (Received May 7, 11 a.m) ’ DELHI, May 6. Latest reports from Rangoon estimate the Pegu dead at 500 to 700. The town experienced three shocks, j Terrible scenes , were witnessed in the Panphlaing Seite area, two miles of which was destroyed by fire, hundreds being crushed or burnt to death. Fifty perished at a Myochite cinema. Following the first shock, the town was plunged into darkness, and fire broke out in the bazaar area. The wooden buildings quickly blazing, terrified the inhabitants who fled, and 1 encountered water four feet deep, from the broken mains. They were, later, overwhelmed by a tidal wave from the river. RECORDED AT SYDNEY. SYDNEY, May 6. Another violent earthquake shock has been recorded at the Sydney Observatory. The location of the disturbance was 5,095 miles to the north, in the direction of Japan, or to the north-west of that country.. The shock occurred just before midnight.