THE JAPANESE DISASTER.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIV, Issue 848, 27 October 1923, Page 5

THE JAPANESE DISASTER.

PALMERSTONMN’S EXPERIENCE ESCAPED WITHOUT A SCRATCH. INTERESTING LETTERS FROM MR H. THOMAS. Some interesting light is thrown on the scenes which followed the recent Japanese earthquake tragedy by Mr H. Thomas, drafting engineer of the Rising Sun Petroleum Company, at Yokohama, in letters which he has forwarded to his parents Mr and Mrs D, Thomas, of Margaret street, Palmerston North. INDESCRIBABLE SCENES. Writing from Yokohama on September 5, Mr Thomas says: “I am quite safe—without a scratch. I will not try to describe the earthquake; it is indescribable. Fortunately steam was up on one of our tugs and I, with several others at the installation, got safely away on board one of the company’s oil tank steamers which had just come in that morning. I am now chief on the tug doing rescue work; all and sundry are helping, working day and night getting the refugees out to the ship. I have lost everything except the clothes I was wearing, but the engineers on our tanker steamer have fitted me out with working clothes, so I have one good suit to fall back on—that which I was wearing. Thousands are clearing to China, but I am sticking to the company and amt doing \Vhat I can. There were something like 20,000 people killed and burned in the great fire which started immediately after the earthquake. Our oil store was wrecked, also all my new work, as the oil caught fire and settled the lot. I am getting plenty of food on our steamer and sleep on board every night and we tie the tug alongside, so I am much better off than the countless thousands who have no homes, food or gh e lt er D SCENES OF DEVASTATION. . Writing under date September 6, Mr Thomas gives a vivid pen picture of the rescue work and the scenes of devastation in Yokohama which followed the upheaval. “We have placed 8000 people, yesterday and to-day, on board the mail boats,” he states. “It is very trying keeping them from rushing the boats, but a' gun and six cartridges do the trick. There is only one building standing in Yokohama and the population wS.s over a quarter of a million, so I leave you to judge for yourselves what things are like. There is no food and very little water. The fire settled everything and it is now estimated that 15,000 people were killed and burned. The earthquake laid the whole place flat in four minutes and tho fires followed immediately, so_ now tho Japanese are starving. We foreigners got our own people off first and took the Japs last. Their own ships did not even lower a boat to help their own people. I , have been ashore since but not again. It is too sickening to see all the bodies crushed and burned. I have charge of one of our pumping tugs delivering oil fuel to the warships and benzine to the launches. How very fortunate for these people that we hod these two steamers in port at the time. If the earthquake had happened at midnight instead of noon there would have been thousands less to tell the tale. The railways are all wrecked and the lines are torn up. The earth in places opened up 10 feet wide and hills were laid flat. You lAay not believe it but it is all too true. Tho British and American cruisers are here, so that will put an end to the looting and murdering for food which have been prevalent. My men became troublesome to-day on the tug so I put alongside the cruiser Despatch and had three men armed to the teeth as a protection for myself and the oil which I am giving out to the ships. The installation is'ruined—the oil fired, so that is the end of all my last few weeks energy and work. We have only 8000 tons here in one of our ships for fuel oil bunkers, so even oil is being given out in very small quantities.” _____