DESTRUCTION IN JAPAN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIV, Issue 805, 7 September 1923, Page 5

DESTRUCTION IN JAPAN.

SOME VIVID DESCRIPTIONS.

MAN! FOREIGNERS PERISH.

PEOPLE DIE FROM HEART FAILURE.

MILLIONS OF REFUGEES IN KOBE.

HOTELS SINK INTO GROUND.

HOSPITAL PATIENTS KILLED.

OTHERS THROWN FROM BLUFF.

EIGHT HUNDRED BURNED TO DEATH.

FEW OF OCCUPANTS ESCAPE. By Electrio Telegraph.—Copyright, Received September 8, 8 a.m. :, , SHANGHAI, Sept. 5. Mr Matheson, the correspondent of the Chicago Tribune, who has arrived at Kobe from Yokohama, said that no fewer than 500 foreigners resident in Yokohama perished. Of the 200 visitors at the Grand Hotel, only a few escaped. The Yokohama Ulub, where many were lunching, and the Oriental Palace Hotel literally sank into the ground except the upper and part of the second floor which is still above, the level of the bank,

Received September 8. 11.25 ».rc, . PEJUN,, Sejt.fi. A mandate has been issued authorising the appropriation of two. hundred, thousand pounds for the. relief, of distress in Japan. Another instructs the Minister of Agriculture to appoint delegates who. will, cooperate with the Red: Gross in providing clothesj and medicines. The money voted will be sent out. immediately. It is learned! that Mr H. A. F. Homo, commercial attache to the British Ambassador, is dead. It is. reported that 800. patients at. the Imperial hospital were burned, to death; —Reuter

Frantic calls for help oume from beneath the wreckage of the houses, but assistance was only possible in a few cases. The Temple Court Hotel and Cherry Mount Hotel were completely thrown oil; the bluff into the town. The Bluff Hotel was hurled down to the bottom of the Horaoku side, few of the occupants escaping.—Eeuter. RUIN IN YOKOHAMA.

SHOCKS IN TURKESTAN.

SEVERAL VILLAGES DESTROYED.

PARIS, Sept. 6. A wifeless message from Moscow states that three shocks of earthquake were felt in Turkestan on September 3. Several villages were completely destroyed.—A. and N.Z. cable.

HUNDREDS DIE OF HEART FAILURE

DEATH OF AUSTRALIAN.

LONDON, Sept. 5. A Tomioka wireless message states that six million homeless refugees are in Kobe. The message says the refugees describe Yokohama as a charnel house. The. canals on the waterfront are filled with dead. The stench of decomposing bodies and the violent heat are unbearable. The early report that two hundred foreigners lost their lives there is confirmed. Those killed were mostly caught while shopping in the down town district. British and American residents who escaped are gathering the bodies of their confreres for burial at sea. The remnants of the Chinese population in Yokohama are gathered under a bluff, without food or shelter, and their condition is pitiable. The Frenoh Ambassador walked from Tokio to Yokohama and boarded the French steamer Andre lo Bon. On© foreigner aboard the same ship graphically describes the disaster. With the sinking of the land, in the lower portion of Yokohama, water spurted through innumerably cracks in the earth. A foot of water soon covered the streets. Tho city is absolutely and completely ruined and all that is left is a shapeless quagmiro jammed with ruins, under which lie scores of bodies, including those of foreigners and business men, with their clients, and stenographers employed in steamship and other offices. Tho bluff where the foreigners lived is absolutely cleared of habitations and life. The majority of the houses crashed completely. The fearful calls of tho human victims were in most cases unanswered. Flames fanned by a fierce wind, burst out everywhere and all escape was blocked. Hundreds must have died of heart failure. Many Japanese servants died in trying to rescue foreign children in their care. This man saw one servant with his hair and clothing- afire, but ho remained, trying to aid the'children, till he dropped dead.—A. and N.Z. cable.

FATHER OF DABJS; CUP PLAXER.

Received September 8, 11.25, a.m. MELBOURNE, Sept. 8. , Mr T. B. Hawkes, of Geelong, a. brother of. the Davis, Cup player, has received word from his mother, whp is. in Japan, that his father has been killed in the earthquake. Mr Hawkes has cabled' to his brother to cross from America and join their mother. —Press Association.

NEW ISLAND APPEARS. ANOTHER DISAPPEARS. PEKIN, Sept. 5. A new island has appeared 40 miles south of Yokohama, where Poshima stood. The latter apparently sank drowning tho population. , J Officials fear extremely high casualties in the mountain districts, whence official word is still lacking. Tho Japanese, officials estimate that over 200 foreigners in Yokohama on Saturday, while relatively few foreigners died in Tokio—A. and N.Z. cable. WASHINGTON, Sept. 5. In a despatch to the Shipping Board from its Manilla agent it is reported that all the vessel in tho Government fleet m the earthquake zone, are safe, It is stated that tho floor of Yokohamaharbour has been raised, trapping several ships insido the port. It is suggested that this might necessitate the use of Kobe as die principal receiving port for relief supplies.—A. and N.Z. cable. AN AMBASSADOR KILLED. ~~"ROME, Sept. 5.. That the Italian Ambassador periahed at Tokio seems indicated in a report from the Frenoh Consul at Kobe, announcing that the Italian Embassy in Tokio and the Consulate at Yokohama were destroyed, but the whole Italian colony in Japan, is safe,, including the diplomatio staff with the exception of the Ambassador.—A. and N.Z. cable. RELIEF FOR SUFFERERS. HELP FROM MANY QUARTERS. SHANGHAI, Sept. 5. American destroyers with limited food and modical supplies, have arrived off Yokohami: They are waiting to niake soundings in tho harbour before approaching to unload.—A. and N.Z. cable HONGKONG, Sept, 5.

SOME TERRIFYING SCENES.

BURNING OIL SPREADS TO HARBOUR,

• KOBE, Sept, 5. The destruction of Yokosuka is complete. Tho earthquake - smashed the • subterranean oil tanks on the hillside abovo the naval station, halfia million tons of oil swooping through tho demolished town, catching fire and becoming a river of flame, from which thero was-no escape. Tho burning oil spread over the harbour, setting fire to some vessels. The scene was terrifying. At the naval base for hours thero were continuous explosions of ammunition, punctuated with mighty blasts as the magazine*, canght and blew up. The towns of Odawara and Kodzu are reported to be completely destroyed. Kamakura was wiped out by:a tidal wave twelve feet high following tho earthquake.' At the Catholic orphanage at Yokohama 160 children and twelve Bisters were crushed to death. There were ghastly sights in the streets, where hundreds of dead lie in grotesque heaps, looking as if they had been gassed. Amongst those reported dead are Mr Morrison McDouglass, of the Hongkong and Shanghai Chartered Bank, and M. Paul Dcsgarden, the French Consul-Gencral at Yokohama.—A. and N.Z. cable. FRANTIC CALLS FOR HELP. NEW YORK, Sept. 6. Tho New York World has received a cablegram from tho foreign editor of the Osaka Mainichi, Who recounts a foreign refugee's account of the disaster at Yokohama. This refugee said that at the first smash water spurted through innumerable cracks in tho earth. The land in the lower end of the town sank and the streets were ten inches under water. After the first shock, frantic calls for help came from the wreckage, but aid could be given in only a few cases. Thousands of Japanese in the nativo part of tho city seemed to die simply of heart failure. People knelt in prayer, heodless of the roaring inferno about them. They seemed dazed, and indifferent to their own fate and callous to tho miseries of those about them. They stared numbly at the burning houses, whence came mad shrieks. The New York Times estimates that, according to advices* from various places, probably 800 foreigners were killed in the Japaneso disaster. The Chicago Tribune's Kobe correspondent says that ex-Premier Takahashi and other leaders of the Seiyuka Party, at first reported killed, are known definitely to havo escaped. Members of tho Japanese Imperial family killed include Princes Shimazu and Kaohio. Tho latter was smothered in a railway tunnel at Yokohama when the exits were blocked—A. and N.Z. cable. PASSENGER TRAINS WRECKED. SHANGHAI, Sept. 6. Prince Matsukata, previously reported dead, is safe. Certain unaffected sections ot Tokio are now lighted with electricity after being in darkness for three nights. Tho American Shipping Boards steamer City of Spokane, laden with 6000 tons ot flour, anchored at Kobe, has received instructions from the American Government to offer the flour to sufferers and has proceeded to Yokohama. A passenger train at a standstill at a station near Atami on Saturday'was thrown into the sea, and 300 passengers were drowned. Thirty were saved by swornming ashore. . . Another train waa • precipitated into, a field between Hiratsuka and Oiso, killing 26 passengers, including an Amorioan military attache and the secretary to tho German Embassy. Refugees from Yokohama are pouumj. into Kobe, many groaning painfully from. injuries. The majority are destitute ot clothing. Out of 10,000 Chinese in Yokohama, 5000 were killed. Chinatown went down in an avalanche of bricks. ■ ' Reports from Osaka state that while the earthquake was still in progress on Sunday evening, the ceremony of installing the new Cabinet was held in the presence of the Prince Regent outside the Akasaka palace. Subsequently tho first Cabinet meeting was held outside the Premier's official residence when relief measures were discussed. -A. and. N.Z, cable.

The earthquake relief committee has concluded arrangements for intercepting cargoes of provisions en route from America. The committee has purchased 500 tons of rice, which is boing despatched immediHr toly. The shipping companies havo intimated their willingness to take the cargoes thero free of insurance, the companies undertaking and dividing tho risk. Chinese firms are waving their claims to commissions.—A. and N.Z. -ble. _ R . The Government is shipping foodstuffs to Japan in all tho availabkwspace. The Empress of Russia, which sailed from Vancouver to-dav, was filled with malted milk ana flour, preliminary to a further consignment whon Japan indicates her preference in relief measures. The Government is also endeavouring to place some of the Canadian Government's merchant vessels on special relief Her vice. ■' " A radiogram from the Japaneso Government announces that the Taiyo Mam is safe, thus nullifying earlier reports tnat, she was endangered 900 miles off Yokohama — A. and N.Z. cable.

Yokohama, which is reported to have been absolutely ruined, was the chief port of entry in Japan. The modern portion of tho town was well laid out and contained many fine buildings. The population was about 500,000. Yokosuka, the destruction of which is also complete, was an important shipbuilding town and naval station with a population of 70,000. It is situated 13 miles south by west of Yokohama. Kobe, to which town the refugees are flocking, is \ 01 miles south of Osaka, and has a population of 385,000. ___"___