The New Zealand Times. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1923. THE LESSON OF JAPAN

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11655, 20 October 1923, Page 4

The New Zealand Times. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1923. THE LESSON OF JAPAN

Nothing can be said in exaggeration of the earthquake experiences of Yokohama and Tokio. The first account that reached us, sketchy as it was, amazed and horrified the world. And every day’s budget, filling in its quota of details, increased our realisation of | the awful loss of life and tho tremendous devastation of property. To-day we know* that no greater calamity has ever befallen. No earthquake has ever destroyed so many lives, inflicted such terrible agonies, or obliterated so completely and awfully the dwellings of men. A bolt from the blue sky is a fiction of imagination searching for effective, comparison, touching nothing. Here was a stroke from beneath the blue sea and from under the green earth, which spread vast death and ruin with the suddenness of the imaginative fiction, leaving food for a great panic of thought distressed and perplexed. In great, cities, in village?, in a beautiful countryside packed with humanity, the people were about their business and their pleasure on that day which had, like so many others, brought them hope and brightness and the joy of life under the glorious sun. Factories hummed; multitudinous industry toiled on the closest settlement in the world, busy with tillage as of gardens; travellers thronged streets, roads, railways, canal boats; fastidious legions thronged brilliant shops; hotels served clients by the thousand; men lounged at ease in clubs; everywhere was the sign of multitude ; everywhere the hum of traffic. It was a fair, glorious picture of life that attracted travellers who had seen men and cities. Suddenly a shake of the earth and a roar from the blue sea and the green earth, and that picture was obliterated. Every e mnd of human terror and human misery accompanied, devastation followed, and fire leaped on the ruins, on the corpses an-d the tortured living. The terrible horror of that dreadful hour of sudden calamity, it is easy for the poorest imagination to realise. AYhat is more, it must be realised, and, once realised, must be dwelt upon, until the minds of men rise to their responsibilities and draw the practical lesson from awful warning. New Zealand has reason for this realisation. New Zealand is called by our neighbours an earthquake country. Our neighbours have, in fact, got into the neighbourly habit of poking sly taunts at us in this way, whenever occasion serves. Unfortunately, there are such occasions. The pioneers were desperately frightened by some shocks, which seemed to them exceedingly rude, and some actually left the country for more stable lands. The Dominion grew, nevertheless, bothering itself but little about ’quakes; not because they did not occur, but because they were few, and the few did but small damage. There have been heavyish shocks at intervals, for the most part long. Some chimneys have departed this life, but not a single human being in the whole record of ’quakes has been killed. A few houses have, on rare occasions, been shaken and cracked, but there has been no devastation. Such is the literal, exact truth. The comparison of our earthquakes with Japan’s history, in which the Yokohama-Tokio disaster is the last of a. long line of disasters, all less than the last, but aTI great, is sufficiently obvious. But comparison is necessary only for one purpose. It is not to gloat over our fellowmen. God forbid I And, instead of gloating, New Zealand has sent instant sympathy and prompt help. Neither is it to show how much safer is our country in this dreadful connection than somo of our neighbours profess to tliink it is. That would be futile. It would be, indeed, an unwarrantable assumption. What do we know of the ways of Nature? Only that they are mysterious, and most often beyond the strongest power of reasoning foresight'. Suddenness is the most marked characteristic of Nature’s methods—consult history. When Pompeii and Herculaneum flourished on the slopes of Vesuvius, that volcano had never been alive within the memory of mankind. Nevertheless, those cities were suddenly buried. We know by historic and contemporary disasters th'at there are certain lines of their marking, which arc known as earthquake lines; that is, lines along which earthquakes are likely to occur. New Zealand is situated on some such line, there is reason to believe. To what degree any earthquake i.- 1 likely to extend, no man can say. No earthquake may ever be felt anywhere in New Zealand greater than the shock which frightened some of us recontly. On the other hand, we have not forgotten the upheaval of our Basin Reserve or the rising on the East Coast in the neighbourhood of Wellington, nor the “faults” which extend from the Wellington district to the Amuri. And we ought not to forget the sudden, enor-

mous disasters of the cities on tho slopes of Vesuvine, the ruins of wircii are, after some 2000 years, being uncovered by patient exploration. Yoke hama, in point of tact, should remind l us that in our situation anything is possible; that we ought not to be led : away by the history of tho short period of our occupation of New Zealand to believe that nothing very serious will happen. Realising such situation, what can we do? In the first place, nothing in the way of facilitating prediction. Prediction is a matter in which success is doubtful, too remote for practical coni aideration, and, even if immediately successful, would be futile. It is impossible to stem the set of the great natural force? let loose, so to speak. The one thing to do is to make provision to meet the attack of those forces with shielding opposition. We must build against earthquake shocks. The great lesson of tho Yokohama earthquake is that fire follows the devastation with overwhelming effect. It is started by domestic fires, by electric fusing, by gas explosions from countless broken pipe 6, while, at the same time, the water supply is cut off by the damage to the piping of main and reticulation cervices. The great fact is that there is no dealing with fire on these occasions. Attention, therefore, must be concentrated on the building of houses earthquake proof. If the earth opens in great chasms, no house can stand. But this phenomenon is rare, and in the earthquakes of Yokohama and San Francisco, so tar as we have definite information, there was not a single case. Anyhow, the only hope of minimising the consequences of earthquake disaster lies in the erection of buildings capable of resisting the disruptive shocks of earthquakes. The question arises, what sort of building? To that, Yokohama can furnish substantially good, if not quits decisive, answer. Some details have come through which are useful indications. For example, it has been reported that certain steel frame buildings, erected on the designs of American architects, have survived the general wreckage. Also that ferro-concrete buildings have gone down. Also is it reported that, under Government auspices,. there is to be a meeting of architects to study the building lesson of the Yokohama earthquake. That strikes the right line of procedure. The possibilities we have indicated of the New Zealand position are a strong proof that New Zealand should arrange for an expert study of the of the various buildings shaken down and otherwise by the earthquake. The Government has sent railway officers to study railway work in other countries, and municipalities are constantly sending officers to study municipal systems —of drainage, lighting, water supply, roading, milk supply, and what not. The question of earthquake resistance in building is graver than any of those in which this practical investigation has been adopted by the Government and by the municipalities. There could not be a better field of investigation than is offered by the ruins of Yoko- ! hama and Tokio. A visit by the Govj ernment architect would give us the j light of mart important evidence, to | the general enlightenment and the in- ! formation of the architects and builders ■whose business is to supply our j buildings. The best thing to do, however, in view* of the magnitude of the opportunity, would be to send a committee of architects and engineers. The result would obtain for the Dol minion the very latest information about the character of earthquakes resisting buildings. Such information, would be of incalculable value to the Dominion. In the event of a great earthquake of the first order, there would be no limit to the congratulations. On the contrary, if nothing is now done, there would be nothing after such shock but mourning over death and lamentations over devastations. We commend the idea strongly to the Government.