OVER 4000 DEAD

Grey River Argus, 8 September 1930, Page 5

OVER 4000 DEAD

AT SAN'. DOMINGO i PILES OF CORPSES •- Being Cremated PLAGUE DANGER. NEW YORK, Septineber 5. Sanitary authorities at Santo Domingo, fearing plague, have ordered all wreckage to be burned. Hundreds iof bodies owing to lack of time for burial, have been cremated. I The British, American, and Haitian 1 Legations were demolished. 1 WASHINGTON, September 5. | Captain Antonio Silva, a Red Cross > official, estimated that 1000 were killed, 5000 injured, 4,700 homes destroyed, and 29,000 are homeless at Santo ' Domingo. The damage totals 20 million dollars, j Hunger is > stalking through the debris-filled stretes, althought many thousands are provided with emergency rationing. Relief ships are being rushed there. SUPPLIES BY AIR ONLY. (Aos. and JN.Z. Cable Assn.) (Received Sept. 7 at 5.5 p.m.) ' NEW YORKK, September 6. [ 3lr Charles Curtis, the United States f Alinister to Santo Domingo, has anI nounced that a conservative estimate of the dead was fifteen hundred, and ; of the injured five thousand. Two United States Marine Corps from Haiti arrived at Santo Domingo, I with medical supplies. ( ■ No shipping can enter the port beI cause of the swiftness of the current. ' The capital is still isolated on the land side by floods, fallen trees, and wrecked bridges. The electric, plants and water plants have broken down, and are not functioning. The American Red Cross has contributed fifty thousand dollars towards rehabilitation. Much more is expected from private sources. The United Stales Marine Commander in Haiti has asked Santo Domingo to prepare a landing place, as he is j planning to establish a regular aeroplane transportation service to carry 1 the necessary supplies. The Dominican Government mean-’ l while is organising mobile kitchens to { feed the homeless. Haiti is sending relief by motor lor- ) lies overland, but it is feared that imIjiassable roads might prevent their arrival. The Cuban Government has sent, eight physicians by aeroplane, and has | ordered the cruiser “Patria” to pro-' 'coed immediately with food and medi-i cine. i

DEATH ROLL MOUNTS Bodies Being Burned [ OVER FIVE THOUSAND INJURED. 30,000 HOMELESS. (Aus. & N.Z. Cable Assn.) (Received September 7 at 6.40 p.m.) WASHINGTON, September 6. / Late reports from Santo Domingo I op Friday emphasised the destruction / that has been wrought, by the hurri1 cane. 31ore than twelve hundred people 4 were, killed in Santo Domingo city •alone, and more than five thousand . people were injured there. ! There were thirty thousand people j homeless and starving. The bodies of the dead are being stacked and burnt in order to solve the sanitary problem. Among the buildings that arc left standing in the city is the 400-year-old ; cathedral, containing the reputed tomb of Christopher Columbus. I The towns in the interior of the island did not suffer so severely as did ’I the capital, | Relief is now being despatched as I quickly as possible from all points. ; OVER 4000 DEAD 'Over 9000 Homes Destroyed ■j 2000 DYING. NEW YORK, September 6. Later advices place the hurricane I dead at least, four thousand. ’/ The advice stated that it was feared \ that the death roll would reach five I thousand. Only four hundred of the ten thous- / and houses in Santo Domingo arc left standing. •. Dead bodies are being pulled out of 3 1 the wreckage at a dizzying rate. r Thirty per cent, of more than five . thousand injured are expected to die.

| An Awful Picture > COFFINS FLOATING ABOUT, i HUGE CREMATORIUMS. i(Aua. & N.Z. Cable Assn.) NEW YORK, Septmcbcr 6. Describing the state of Santo Domingo, a United States 31arine Officer .said: —“It is as if a giant hand had . smeared the town like a toy, and had then stirred the pieces with a stick. There is no water fit to drink. The waterworks have been demolished. The river is a sea of mud, and floods have washed out the newly-buried dead. The coffins float, round like corks. The dead are being collected in mounds and trenches are being dug for their burial. They are also being burned above the , ground. Concrete cisterns are being

! used as funeral pyres, cremating as 1 many as fifty bodies at one time.” ’ Eighth of Population : WIPED OUT. | DAMAGE OVER 10 MILLION DOLLARS. i (Received September 7 at 6.50 p.m.) | SANTO DOMINGO, September 6. With four thousand dead already ' known, and the total indicated to be 1 live thousand, the City of Santo Doi mi ago to-day smoked with unnumber- ! cd funeral pyres as the bodies of the ’ victims were consigned to the flames. 1 Five thousand persons arc seriously injured, many of whom are expected | I 'Thus one-eighth of the population I of this, the oldest white city in the Western Hemisphere, have been wiped ! The property damage is now set 1 down at between forty and fifty niili lion dollars. I Hour by hour the horror grows as the refugees continue to drift in from ' the outlying towns, bringing new’ tales of death, and destruction. Along the muddy streets of the city proper and on the banks of the River Osama, the dead yet lie in piles as a menace to health. All of the available houses, churches and hospitals arc tilled with wounded. Fifty mothers of new-born babies were lulled in the collapse of one maternity hospital. Many of the mothers were decapi- ' tated by sheets of zinc with which the I building was lined. MATERNITY HOSPITAL HORROR. I SANTO DOMINGO. September 6. There is no estimate of the number of women and infants killed at the 3Taternity Hospital here. The Hospital buildings were roofed with zine, sheets of which were ripped away by the 160 mile per hour -wind, mowing down all human beings in its path. [Fifty of the bodies in the hospital were docapapitated.

Inland Towns ALSO DEVASTATED. c I SANTO DOMINGO, September 6. Parties now have penetrated the ] area for fifteen miles on every side •. of Santo Domingo, and they report | that all is desolation. I The injured in the outlying sections, due to the impassibility of the roads, have little hope of receiving aid for days. The storm has wiped out the great stores of coffee, sugar, cocoa, and fruits, which had been prepared for i export, and were ruined by iho wind and rain. SOME RELIEF ARRIVES. SxYNTO DO3IINGO, September 6. The city is still without light, power or water. A squadron of six aeroplanes, from Cuba, bearing physicians and medical supplies, has landed here this morning, and a ship has arrived with food and medical supplies. Their arrival has brought new hope to the little body of local officials who have worked without rest.