WORST IN HISTORY

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 22 April 1935, Page 7

WORST IN HISTORY

WHOLE FAMILIES KILLED THREE PROVINCES ROCKED LANDSLIDES BURY RAILWAYS.

(United P tern Aieocoauon—By Eeotrfo Telegraph

Copyright). Received 1 p.m. to-day. TOKIO, April 21. Formosa’s worst earthquake is hourly beipg revealed. In countless cases ■whole families have been killed. Three provinces were severely rocked and several villages in the Shinchiku province w r ere levelled. Railways and telegraphs have been disrupted 'indefinitely', and landslides have buried railway tracks, wrecked bridges and caused tunnels to collapse. A defence coi-ps aeroplane, which Was forced back by' strong winds, reported that fires are causing havoc in the villages and on farms. Previously Formosa’s most severe earthquake was in 1906, when 1300 people were killed. The whole main street of Taiehu City w'as demolished, killing 100 outright, and the town of Taiko was practically destroyed. Police members and Red Cross' workers heroically rescued the injured. Mount Asamas* was in eruption on Saturday, but the flow of lava ceased to-day, although smoke and fire belched from the crater in the worst eruption since 1929. Lava set fire to many farmhouses. There have been twenty earthquakes on the mainland since January 1. It is believed that eight members of the Presbyterian and Church .of England missions stationed at Shokwa near Taiehu, headed by Dr. Landsborougb, are attempting to establish contact. hut lack of communications is preventing them. A London message states that a series of earthquakes shook many ■places in the neighbourhood of the Mediterranean. it was so violent in Portugal that inhabitants fled into the fields in alarm. It was also- felt at Malta and Florence. It is believed the epicentre was in the Levant. Kelburn Record of Long Distance ’Quake