APPALLING LOSS

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 6 September 1923, Page 5

APPALLING LOSS

~* THE DISASTER IN JAPAN

DEAD TOTAL 340,000

REPORTS BY REFUGEES

AREA AFFECTED

331 CABi.: --rdlX? h F3OCIATIOH— COPYRIGHT LONDON, Sept. 4. An Osaka- newspaper announces that ssfche Toiiio nre has been extinguished. 'f-The dead total: — Tokio 150,000 Yokohama 100,000 Yokoauka 60,000 Atami 10,000 In the countryside 20,000 A list of the dead foreigners is beting compiled. It is feared Sir Charles .Eliot, the British Ambassador, and >many of his staff are dead.-^Sun Cable. HONOLULU, Sept. 4. The casualties are now estimated to jsotal half a million. - NEW YORK, Sept. 4. The Kobe correspondent of the World taays the first refugees from Yokohama .-arrived at midnight clothed as at the stime of the earthquake. The refugees the first definite news of the in Yokohama, including the American Consul and Messrs. Home vand' Griffith, of the British Consulate.

The refugees also confirmed a previ- < jous report, which had been deemed incredible, that no building remains stand-:-ing in Yokohama, except the towering •ruins of the Standard Oil office. One ..refugee said: '"The earth literally heaved Tike the sea. T shall hew: the tsereams of the all my life."

The steamship Empress of Australia and "Korea saved many lives by taking «bri board all who could leave the quakwhairf. Five oT the Royal Family rare dead,-.but the Emperor, the Empress and the Prince Regent are safe.

Meanwhile, two .Japanese divisions -are proceeding to .assist in rescue work -among ;Tokio's T&trieken populace. [Virtually." all the nations of the world i»re -des.jpda'tching TsKef expeditions, ■while; two additional expeditions are jprepad-ing to leave Manila. - SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 41 The Rice-growers' Association of Cali.fornia, controlling jflie entire visible supply of -about half a, million bags, will place the rice at the disposal of Japan, ;permitting no advance in prices. The • association is refusing big offers from brokers and will deal only with Mr. H. 'O. Hoover (Secretary for Commerce) -and the' Japanese relief mission.

Despatches'from Japan say that six \naval vessels' have arrived at YokoJhama aaid Shinam Awa -with cargoes of Tice. The-eonditions in both cities are improving. The water supply and street lighting has been restored in Tokio arid supplies are arriving. A new estimate, credited to the Horn© c says that only ten thousand are *v_ - -dead in Tokio.

A marcohigram from Admiral Anderson, commanding th© United States* .Asiatic'fleet,' estimates the total Japanese dead at "240,000, with 450,000 in:jured. Over a-riiiHion dollars was sent to the United States Tied Cross on Tuesday for Japanese Telief. ~;. MANILA, Sept. 4. The rNavy Department is working feverishly loading (transports with relief supplies' for "Japan. It is expected two -will sail to-morrow and a third on Fri•day. ' Major "Reid is in charge of the •expedition, wKidh will include a relief ■corps, army-and Ttasvy doctors, nurses, four complete field hospitals with 750 v&kd& each, five thousand- cots, tents •and large quantities of blankets, "clothing- and food. SHANGHAI, Sept. 4. Judging by all available reports the "disaster is affecting the following ten prefectures: Tokio, Kanagawa, Shidzu•oka, Chlbet, Yamanashi, Saatama, Tabaraki, Nagano, Suma and Tochigi. ''The total area, is twenty thousand >square miles and the total population 'iifteen millions. The ai«a includes big cities like Tokio, Yokohama and Kokosuka, and tourist resorts like Kamakura, "Hakone and Nikko. SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 4. A radiogram from Tomioka indicated /that Bonin Island, off the coast of. Japan, may have sunk into the sea, as no communication has been received ;from it since the disaster. A similar fate is feared for Enoshima Island.