CALIFORNIA ’QUAKE

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 11923, 19 April 1933, Page 2

CALIFORNIA ’QUAKE

ENORMOUS DAMAGE

DESCRIPTIONS OF DISASTER

PLIGHT OF THOUSANDS,

Graphic accounts of the disastrous earthquakes which devastated a huge area of? Southern California during the evening of March 10 are contained in American papers. There was » death roll of 127 nnd a casualty list, of thousands injured, while the estimated damage to property was about £10,000,000. Residents of Long Beach, . where seventy-four rwere killed and over 1,000 injured in the earthquake, fought their way through the debrisfilled- streets next day, returning to ruined homes and shops crushed under brick and concrete. The city took aj shaky, unsteady step 'out of its shambles in defiance of the continued rumbling and rocking oft the earth. Reluctantly a heavy fog which shrouded the deep gashes in once mn/iestic buildings, lifted to give the weary populace a glimpse of the devastation.

The bereaved kept a steady march through the mortuaries and hospitals searching for missing loved ones, and mostly not finding them. For the most part they had spent the previous night on lawns, on the. beach, in parks, or seated in their automobiles in the surrounding open country, where camps of tents, smoking fires and serried rows of parked cars sprang up away from the menace of failing walls.

CITY UNDJbiR GuARD

By thousands, the automobiles of the fleeing population choked all highways leading out of the stricken city. They returned next day to a city guarded by troops with fixed bayonets—couteous guards who saluted and said: “This block is quarantined, sir,” when a resident sought to enter a danger area—guards preserved quiet order and prevented, even a semblance of looting. Tiwo hours after the earthquake laid waste buildings and the heaving earth brought on a nameless terror, the centre of Long Beach was as deserted as a sepulchre—whitened, by mortar and plaster, and silent except for wailing sirens 1 and the falling of crumbling walls. Through the usually thronged streets, a few groups of pedestrians made their way. They walked in the centre of the thorough fares. To all but officiaSs, whole blocks of tho city were, forbidden. Cracked walls and.' still falling bricks made them dangerous.

Occasionally ambtflance and fire engines rushed by. Water flowed in the gutters from the pumping which had quickly extinguished dozens of fires. Broken glass and brick, plaster, and lath littered the sidewalks, Merchandise tumbed in confusion from the shdlves' of shops, laid hare to the streets' by broken windows and fallen walls*

Smaller buildings suffered most. Hotels and apartment houses twelve storeys high remained standing, while one and two-storey markets were demolished. Garages collapsed,, crushing automobiles as if, they wore toys of tin.

MANY HOMES WRECKED

Orderly and: cairn after their first panic, house holders in the residential district removed their household goods to lawns, lit camp fires in the streets aiid gathered in, groups for companionship and to discuss their plight. Probably half their neighbours hadf fled, but they remained by their homes.

Here a comfortable living room stood naked to tho street, a reading lamp, shining over an easy chair by a (radio, revealed by the falling of a wall. There* a porch was shorn from its supports. Another house leaned crazily, Jseemingly ready to fall at a touch. Dinner stood on a.table in a feecqnd-floor dining room. Not a brick marked the interior of the room, as open as, a movie set.

• A number of apartment Bouses were inspected hastily find condemned. Winter, visitors, who thronged the city, were forced to the streets, parks aind parking lots, or to the open country in their automobiles. They huddled in groups and wrapped blankets- about their shoulders as a .thin grey fog irolled in from hie sea.

Five men were buried when the fire station was shaken down. Two youths died .in. the high school, where a sports meeting had just been complet ed. In. a department store two women were crushed to death, and the manager of a theatre .was .killed) in his offite. Some of the buildings furnished weird sights. Steel framework stood, twisted and tragic, after bricks and mortar surrounding had been stripped.

ATTENDING TO REFUGEES

With hundreds of the homeless clustered in Lincoln Park, directly across the street from Long Beach city hall, the Salvation Army had collected food and fuel for the preparation of an early breakfast, hut lacked the proper utensils for the emergency meal. A call was sent) out to collect tuba and huge kettles. While many water mains were broken there were only scattered reports of water shortages.

Hospitals were filled to overflowing .with the less secure of theml abandoned in favour, of lawns, as doctors worked with many injured.

All of the ,major store and official buildings were damaged, while most of the more feeble lesser structures were buried to the ground. In these most of the dead and injured were caught. ATlj communication lines throughout the city and between neighbouring cities* were disrupted, .making searches and the handling of the dead and injured- difficult. The lighting system remained in active use- - The initial shock in Long Beach was prolonged. Buddings did not crash to the street at once but as tie shockd kept up, a swaying motion set in, which quickly brought down store fronts, masonry, cornices and and eventually entire structures. The business district of the city was crowded with shoppers and office workers just leaving for home. Panic stricken, they sought open spaces at at intersections and in parks-

INDIVIDUAL INCiIjuNTS

Freak incidents occurred in a seem ingly unending series throughout the damaged area. One man, Mr Antonio Decliaine, was instantly electrocuted when he ran -.into a tangle of high tension wires while escaping from a collapsed building. Two physicians, Dr Ehrke and Dr Lynn were among the earthquake victims removed to Galas Campana3 Hospital for emergency treatment After the collapse of a building in Crompton. Although suffering from severe injuries they aided the hospital staff. Suddenly Dr Lynn collapsed. He was AouncJ to have worked at the surgery more than an hour, although he had a fractured skull. Dr Ehrke also collapsed.