FIJI DIASTER

Hokitika Guardian, 28 February 1931, Page 2

FIJI DIASTER

if#** ABOUT m PEAD, (Australian Press Association.) SUVA, February 27. The disastrous hurricanes started at noon on Saturday last, and it lasted till three o’clock on Sunday afternoon. At Dautuka seventeen Indian dead have been identified, and 23 are missing, believed killed. There are also 12 Fijians dead. At Ba, it is estimated that sixty were drowned, including four Europeans, two of whom were known, At Sigatoka it is reported that cno hundred people were drowned, but this is unconfirmed. The Ba River rose forty feet. It washed away all of the houses on the flat. The teeth of the chattering refugees suffered seriously from intense and unusual cold. It is feared that many people will succumb as the result of their privations and the lack of food. Owing to there being gales, the news only arrived last night. The steamer Wairuna arrived here at noon to-day with a shipment of rice fron) overseas. This is being sent for the relief of Indians, who are in desperate need. The water supplies and sanitary systems are stopped, and there is the fear of disease breaking out. Precautions are necessnry, Fijians are reported to have done excellent work in the areas. EUROPEAN VICTIMS. SUVA, February 27. Europeans known to have been killed as a result of the hurricane are:— Reginald Rankin ; Mr and Mrs Watson the former a mechanic, recently of Sydney; Mr W. J. Mansell, Lautoka. W. Spowart, electrician, of Suva, was electrocuted when connecting a hospital lino at Lnuktoka, during the height of the storm.