The Hawera Star. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1931. EARTHQUAKE SUFFERERS’ RELIEF.

Hawera Star, Volume L, 7 February 1931, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1931. EARTHQUAKE SUFFERERS’ RELIEF.

Delivered every evening by 5 o’olook in Hawera. Manaia, Kaupokonni, Otakeho, Oeo, Pihama, Opunake, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Ngaere, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Te Kiri, Mahoe, Lowgarth, Manutahi, Kakaraxnea, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Whenuakura, Waverley, Mokoia, Whakamara. Ohangai, Meremerc, Fraser Road, and Ararata.

New Zealand has sufficiently recovered from the first shock of the East Coast disaster to be able to think with some degree of clarity of measures for the relief of the victims of Tuesday’s catastrophe. Until yesterday, people situated at a. distance from the scene were aide tc do little of an active nature to ass'st, but with the passing of the iir.>t three or four days following this stun nil g upheaval of everyday routine. the people everywhere have been able ro (blain a clearer view of the icei-; of the situation and shape their preparations accordingly. The quickest rind surest means of helping for the majority of the public will he through Ino Pomn. ion-wide Earthquake Relief Fund, which has been opened by the iiiavor- or fill towns. For some, opportune ios will occur of shouldering the burden in more direr! fashion, in offering hospitality to the homeless or in giving I heir services in some section

of the wide organisation which is taking shape; but for the general public a contribution to t.lie national fund offers the speediest and most helpful form of assistance. It can- be tatcen for granted that the peojrlc of the Dominion will rise nobly to the demands now being made upon their kindliness of heart. Even in far-distant parts of the Empire, and indeed in foreign countries, the sufferings of the victims have struck a chord of deep human sympathy, which lias manifested itself in generous offers of assistance. Nothing is more calculated to throw men into

r ach other's arms than Nature in a* violent mood, bent upon destruction. Personal and racial antipathies disappear before the human need to band together in common defence against forces too Strong for human opposition. An earthquake, more than any other visitation, shakes man's sense of so-' curity to its foundations. As one looks upon the tragic results of this latest visitation upon the world, the words of a writer whose love of humanity was, boundless, echo in one’s heart: “There, but for the grace of God, go I"—and the urge to succour suffering humanityi is insistent. The call for money which has gone out to the people could not have come at a more unpropitlous period in the economic history of the country, but it will be answered, and everything that human sympathy and national sacrifice can do will bo done to assist the sufferers to forget the horrors through which they have passed this week and to establish them once again as useful cogs in tho social machine. Those who have escaped with their lives will have to master a sense of despair at suddenly being torn from their accustomed places as useful citizens and left adrift on the sea of life, without a task and without an anchorage. The rehabilitation of these people is the greatest task awaiting the country, once the injured have been cared for and all survivors found food and shelter. To-day the need is for sustenance and shelter for those deprived of work and homes; but the need of the immediate future is the creation of a place for those whose towns, with their business and social connections, have been wiped out. For this task money and vision will be needed. The most urgent need is money, and most people can afford to contribute in some measure, but soon greater demands will be made upon those who have been left undisturbed in their places; forbearance, generosity, and perhaps even self-sacrifice, will be demanded of the general public in helping back to industry and contentment those who for the time being have lost both.