BULGARIAN CALAMITY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19928, 23 April 1928, Page 11

BULGARIAN CALAMITY

EARTHQUAKES SPREAD RUIN. TERRIBLE SCENES OCCUR. END OF WORLD ANTICIPATED. DAYS AND NIGHTS OF FEAR. So terrible were the earthquakes in Bulgaria last week that the panic-stricken people are reported to be expecting the end of the ■world. Some have lost their reason and are wandering about the coun try. The second largest city in Bulgaria, Philippopolis, has been laid waste for the second time in its history. Long lines of houses collapsed and the principal streets were obliterated beneath the fallen debris. Many public buildings, schools and factories were razed to the ground, and at the public hospital frantic patients threw themselves from windows as the building rocked. Ten children were burned to death in a fire at a school. Fifteen towns, villages and hamlets have disappeared altogether. Strange phenomena accompanied the shocks, 150 of which were experienced in three days. Fires broke out and added to the horrors of the disaster. s Railway communications have been cut by the earthquakes, and there arc fears of famine in many districts. Superstitious people blame the Government for the catastrophe, because Parliament sat on Good Friday.

HORRORS OF DISASTER.

At Papazli, a few miles from Philippopolis, 10 children -were trapped in a burning school and burned to death. Thera was a terrible contrast at the village of Sotebelovo. There people escaped from their homes only to be menaced by swirling waters from the burst water-mains.

TEOPMj driven insane. WIDESPREAD DESTRUCTION, / FINE CITY LAID IN RUINS. ENTIRE STREETS COLLAPSE. JBy Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright. iAustralian Press Association—United Service (Received April 22, 5.45 p.m.) SOFIA, April 21. Details of the earthquakes which have ■occurred in the past few days are now "beginning to emerge from the devastated areas in Bulgaria. They show that the jmain disturbance was the most terrible ,one of the kind in European memory.

Part of the railway connecting Philippopolis with Sofia was thrown up like a toy line and another portion sank to a depth of 2ft. Panic broke out among the prisoners in the gaol at Zagora. They made frantic attempts to escape. All kinds of strange phenomena accompanied. the latest disturbances and added to the horsor. Huge chasms have appeared in fields and roads, and in some cases they are slowly closing again. Many people aro camping in motor-cars, waggons and tents on open spaces. There are continual processions around the ruined outskirts of Philippoplis oi people chanting expiatory psalms and calling on all to repent their sins.

There were 50 more severe shocks yesferdav, making 150 in three days. It is now definitely established that 120 people -were killed and that 400 others were injured. Furthermore it is impossible to .calculate the number of people still lying ibeneath ruins. The taking of a census is difficult as the terrified populations of the various districts are scattered in all directions. Many have lost their reason and are wandering in a demented state about the country. The whole of the people of Bulgaria are the victims of panic and are expecting the #nd of the world. Even in Sofia the population spent Thursday night in the •parks or fields and refused to return to their houses yesterday. The historic city of Philippopolis has Ibeen laid wast? just as it was in 1818. streets of houses have collapsed, and by the crashing masonry the principal streets have been obliterated. The railway station is an unrecognisable mass ei broken bricks and twisted rails. There was a terrible scene at the •Public Hospital. 'Frantic patients fought to reach the windows while the building Tvas rocking and then threw themselves to the ground. Many insane people rushed cut into the streets shouting hysterically. The desolation is widespread. lifteen towns, villages and hamlets have disappeared under masses of splintered debris, flhe earthquakes were accompanied by stra: ge thunder beneath the earth and by rustling, whistling sounds in the air. People in the streets, as they were rushing for safety, were struck down by fjricks and cornices from largo buildings. Firn broke out in Philippopolis, and soon gigantic flames were devouring the ruins. The earthquakes continued throughout last night at intervals of 15 minutes, sometimes swaying the earth and at other times taking the form of sharp shakes Ibeneath the feet. A fresh building colHapse'l with each shock. Public buildings, schools, workshops, lactones and railway stations crashed amid a terrifying rumble, which gave way to shrieks of the wounded and dying. Panic-stricken people everywhere poured through the streets —sobbing human l>eings choking in the dust and smoke.

King Boris, the Prime Minister, M. Liaptcheff, and members of tho Cabinet are aiding in the relief work, which is greatly hampered by the general disorganisation of traffic.

The Paris-Constantinople and the Simplon oxpress trains cannot be run, and there is a danger of famine in many districts which were short of food before the shocks. ■

Superstitious people are blaming the Government, saying it challenged the Divine wrath by holding Parliamentary sessions on Good Friday. A third series of shocks occurred last night. These especially affected Haskovo, a town 44 miles from Philippopolis, which had largely escaped in the former shocks. Tremors continued all night and numerous houses were damaged. The residents were already camping out and escaped.

Philippopolis (Plovdiv district) is the second largest city in Bulgaria. It is about 80 miles southeast of the capital, Sofia. It is an important commercial centre for tobacco and rice, both of wheh are grown in the district, attar of roses and wine. The population of the city when the last census was taken on December 31, 1920, was 63,415, and of the district of Plovdiv 488,181. It is a very ancient city, and was named after Kink Philip of Macedon (died 336 8.C.). It was captured by the Goths, who are said to have slain 100,000 of its inhabitants. It was sacked again in 1205 and in 1818 it was practically destroyed by an earthquake. There are many fine public buildings, palaces, churches and mosques in the city. A noted Italian seismologist, Professor whose prophesies last year coincided with various calamities, predicted recently that a great telluric movement would occur simultaneously in Southern Europe and the South Pacific. He named March 23 and 24 as critical days, and that "April would be an uneasy month in many parts of the globe." There was a destructive earthquake in Mexico 011 March 22, and another on March 25, and on March 26 many persons were killed and much damage done by an earthquake in tho Carnic Alps in North Italy. The shocks in Bulgaria came last week.