BACK FROM NAPIER

Hawera Star, Volume L, 5 February 1931, Page 4

BACK FROM NAPIER

“DESOLATION IMPOSSIBLE TO REALISE HAWERA MAN’S IMPRESSIONS •‘No attempt at description of the awful desolation and the scene of chaos and horror in Napier can give you any idea of the position and the terrible experience of the people of the town and surrounding district/' said Mi. kL Cawsey, of Hawera, who returned last night from a brief visit to Napier, in conversation with a “Hawera Star representative “It has to be seen to be realised, and even then one needs to be there quite a long time to have anv conception of the completeness of the disaster and the way it has hit evervlxidy. It was pitiful to see the ruins and the homeless, houseless people.” Mr. Cawsey went through on f- ue ®~ day afternoon to see what lie could do to' help his sister, Mrs. Ellison, who with her husband and three children lived in a house below the hospital. This was built of wopd and, although seriously damaged, with big cracks m the walls and ceiling, did not come down. Chimneys, of course, were demolished right down to the lowest bricks, and in fact, said Mr. Cawsey, it is estimated that there are barely twenty standing from Waipukurau to Napier. When the earthquake occurred Mrs. Ellison was inside the house and she ‘n-abbed her youngest child and got the others out, but it was a matter of the Greatest difficulty, because the house rocked as though at sea and she was thrown from one side to another. However, she got out. . Mr. Ellison, who is connected with a leading firm in town, was fortunately outside the building and escaped practically unhurt. The buildings are, however, a. mass of ruins and the\ have lost everything. .Referring to the roads from the Gorge to Napier, Mr. Cawsey said there was an almost uninterrupted line of cars, crowded with people who have relations in the earthquake area and are going to see what they can do. Everywhere people were asking for information. The damage began to be seen soon after leaving Dannevirke ancl one saw telegraph poles bent and hall-down, and from Waipukurau the seven ely damaged area commenced. So far as he could see, the sanatorium appeared not to have suffered much. The roads approaching Napier wore in many places severely damaged and the concrete broken, ■ and one had to drive very carefully to avoid the holes in the surface.

‘ “And the scene that met my eye as I ran into Napier,” said Mr Cawsey, “I shall never forget. It was indescribable, and when I went round the town, this impression of destruction was increased. The people in hundreds are outside, mostly -without shelter, and in many cases -with some of their furniture pulled out of the houses. The Parade was crowded with homeless refugees,- and most of them appear to have been hurt more or less. One street was four feet up on the _ one side and down on the other, and it ts practically only the wooden places which have stood. But the people generally,” he added, “are wonderful and everyone who can, is anxious to* help. Tents and temporary hospitals have been erected where the many hundreds of casualties are receiving attention. Everyone who is able has got down to iti and is trying to help. And of the men off the warships, I cannot say too much. They are doing a wonderful work. I must give the greatest credit to the authorities and those who have been put in charge of the various sections of the work required to give assistance. Every effort is being made to give the wounded attention and to get the homeless refugees away from the town.”

It was a pitiful sight, he said, to see the fine new hospital and nurses' home in ruins and one can hardly realise what the nurses and doctors and patients suffered. The breeze had fanned the smouldering flames in town and the Fire Brigade were doing everything possible, without an adequate water supply, to check the flames. It was a remarkable sight’, he added in conclusion, to see how the wooden buildings were able to stand the terrible dislocation of the earth, and one special sight was the Presbyterian Church, with its tower undamaged, standing alone in the desolated area near the Post Office, an island as it were in a sea of ruin. The plight of the people and the place one cannot get out of one’s mind and will be such as one toll remember with horror all one’s life.