A CALIFORNIAN CALAMITY.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 77, 13 March 1933, Page 6

A CALIFORNIAN CALAMITY.

With the memory of our own disaster of the same kind as yet so fresh in mind, there will be no lack of sympathy in the Hawke’s Bay district with the victims of the serious earthquake shocks that have visited Southern California. It is, however, a source of great relief to find that the tally of deaths given in the later cabled reports shows a much less aggregate than that indicated by the first message, which came through on Saturday evening. In fact, the total now mentioned is little more than one-fourth of that which was then sent. Considering the apparent violence of the visitation and the relative density of population in the region affected, the number of fatalities so far recorded cannot but be regarded as small compared with our own. It is, o f course, possible that later advices may show an increase, but it may be accepted that, so far as human life is concerned, the catastrophe is scarcely comparable with those that have overtaken Japan at no very long intervals since the beginning of the century. Even so, however, it is of quite sufficient magnitude to be impressive of the destructive power of Nature’s irresistible forces once they are set in action. One comfort is to be found in the fact that there are plenty of resources at command on the spot for providing relief for the many sufferers affected.