TURKISH QUAKES

Grey River Argus, 4 January 1940, Page 5

TURKISH QUAKES

UNBURIED BODIES Epidemics Feared [Aust. & N.Z. Cuole Assn.J Ain KARA, January 2. The first group of 100 injured fr~.n the Erzindjan area arrived oy tr<A-.i. it is reported that most of the officers and soldiers of the garrison w<-_e Killed. Many people committed suicide, because they had their famn.js perish. People buried ths dead w.Jr t neir own hands.

Epidemics are feared from ine number of bodies unburied. The President (General Inonu) is personally superintending tne w-ik after travelling from Ankara since Thursday. The first earthquake in western Turkey is reported to have occui.au at 7 a.m. yesterday. In the east, where lb,ooo square miles were effected by the earlier shock, relief works me now m hand, and trains are running more irequentry. the population of 20 villages has taken refuge in the mountains and some 500 other villages are completely cut off. There are no details of casualties. Kain was still falling this morning.

Flood Disaster THOUSANDS DROWNED. [Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.J ANKARA, January 2. The extent of the floods was greater than was at first thought. From Smyrna to the Sea of Marmora towns anu bridges and dams have been destroyed. in many places there is six feet of water. Torrents in the Bursa region swept hundreds of persons and whole villages into the sea, as downpours and earth tremors continued. The death-rolis are: Giresun, 1500; Ordu, 900. Four hundred houses were demolished at Kemal Pasha, and 5000 at Ordu. The first relief ship from Istanbul arrived at Ordu, after a perilous voyage. One thousand destitute people were found wandering naked in one district, in peril from nunger maddened dogs and wolves, which soldiers shot.

The clearing up of Erzindjan proceeding. People were found living, despite five days’ burial in the ruins.

World’s Earthquakes HISTORIC DISASTERS Enormous loss of life has been caused as the result of earthquakes during the past two centuries. Something like fifty thousand deaths are reported in the Turkish disaster. Cities, towns and villages have been destroyed and wide areas have been devastated. The majority of these disasters have occurred in southern Europe, India, and the East, and along the western coast of America. One of the worst calamities of modern times occurred in the region of Calcutta in 1737, although the reported death roll of 300,000 has been doubted by present-day experts. Between 30,000 and 40,000 people lost their lives in the'Lisbon earthquake of 1755, when the greater part of the city was wrecked, fire broke out and a tidal wave swept over the quays and destroyed the shipping. Mont Pelee Disaster A death roll of 60,000 was recorded following the great earthquake in Calabria, in the “toe” of Italy, in 1783. About 20,000 perished at Aleppo in 1822, 12,000 at Naples in 1857 and 25,000 in Peru in 1868. The first serious earthquake this century was at the eruption of Mont Pelee, in the West Indies, in 1902, when 20,000 people perished. An area of 1,500,000 square miles was affected in a disturbance in India in 1905, which accounted for 20,000 lives. In the famous Californian earthquake of 1906, the greater part of San Francisco was destroyed. An appalling disaster in southern Italy in 1908 resulted in the destruction of Messina, Reggio and many villages and the loss of 77,283 lives. Japan suffered its worst disaster on September 1, 1823, when an earthquake followed by a tidal wave and fire destroyed Tokio and Yokohama. Casualties numbered 246,540, of whom 103,733 were injured, 99,331 were killed and 43,476 missing and probably all killed. A total of 447,128 houses were destroyed by fire and 128,266 collapsed.

Earthquakes in Turkey On July 23, 1930, the region near Naples had one of its worst earthquakes, 2142 people being killed and 4551 injured. In March, 1931, Nicaragua experienced an earthquake which destroyed the capital city of Manaquao, hundreds of persons being killed or injured. The year 1935 was a tragic one m the matter of earthquakes. Incidentally, Turkey was the victim in May of that year, when more than 500 persons were killed, while in the following month in Baluchistan, India, there was a visitation which accounted for about 40,000 lives. Last year began disastrously with a terrible earthquake which struck Chile, causing about 25,000 deaths. In April there was another disaster in Anatolia, Turkey, where over 250 lives were lost. New Zealand’s worst experience with earthquakes occurred in February 1931, when Napier was rocked for days and almost completely razed 256 citizens losing their lives. The only other earthquake in the Dominion of notable intensity was that which happened at Murchison, op the West Coast, in 1929, when there was small loss of life.