WHAT LIES UNDER RUINS?

Taranaki Daily News, 6 February 1931, Page 5

WHAT LIES UNDER RUINS?

DEAD MAY TOTAL HUNDREDS BUSINESS AREAS MOWN DOWN. LANDSLIDES ENGULF HOMES. It 5s impossible to estimate the number who have lost their lives in Napier and Hastings. Hidden tinder the ruins of Napier and 'Hastings, particularly '■the former, lie an absolutely unknown dumber of people. They may number hundreds, and -• possibly thousands, though this latter is hardly likely. 'Yet it must be taken into aecoprit that many public buildings collapsed within a few seconds, and in Napier dozens of houses .have been engulfed in landslides. Who can say how many inmates of these buildings have escaped, and how many still lie buried in the ruins ? It is supposed that the great majority have escaped, for the natural inclination for. ahyone inside tlie building is to run for the open at'the first indication of tin earthquake. In some crises this has been fatal, as in the ease of the Napier post office, where those who rushed out of the door were killed, and most of those insitje were paved. On the whole, however, those who reached the middle of a street in time were saved.

The injured in the affected area number mahy thousands, most of the injuries having been received from filling masonry when the first wild rush for safety was made at 11 o’clock on Tuesday mdming. Everywhere in the streets of Napier and Hastings one sees people With bandaged heads and limbs, and this does not take into account the tragic cases behind the scenes, where more serious injury has been received. One glance into the temporary hospitals of Napier and Hastings Alls one with a sensation of horror thit words cannot describe. ENORMOUS PROPERTY LOSS. f . . ■ ■ The loss in property unquestionably runs into millions of pounds ’ sterling. The complete devastation of the whole of the business portion of Napier is itself an enormous financial loss. Add to this the destruction of the whole of the central part of Hastings and the huge wool and other bulk stores at Port Ahuriri, and the result can only be cbiljectured. Finally, there, is the fact that every ’ residence, without exception, in the whole of the Hastings-Napier-Wai-roa district has shfffered daiphge that must average from £5O to £2OO. Almost all brick chimneys were broken, and visits to hundreds of houses made by a Taranaki Daily NeWs representative disclosed that in every one of them the inside was a wreck. Wooden houses have as a rule suffered little structural injury, but everything in. the larder has almost invariably been thrown to the ground, furniture tossed into any odd corner, and pictures and everything movable dashed to. the ground with terrific force. Wedding presepts, such as valuable china, dinner sets and crystal have invariably been smashed to atoms.

Lastly, there is the loss. to the district of the harbour, at any rate, for * long time. With the sea bottom known to have been raised in many places to an average height of six or seven feet, who can say what the state of the harbour iB until a detailed survey is made? Even now the level of the land may be changing, and none can say where it will rest. MESSAGES OF SYMPATHY. NEW PLYMOUTH RESOLUTIONS. The Mayor of New Plymouth (Mr. H. V. & Grim ths) sent the following telegram to the Mayor of Napier and Hastings yesterday:— ‘"The people of New Plymouth are ■hocked and dismayed at the tragic disaster which has befallen your city and in common with the rest of the Dominion tender heartfelt sympathy. Any assistance we can give will be readily forthcoming. Have already sent doctors, nurses and medical equipment and have opened subscription lists for relief of distress.”

Sympathy with those who had. lost relatives and friends in the earthquake disaster was expressed by the Taranaki

Automobile Association ,in New Ply, n.:u|th last evening; At a (special meeting of the New Plymouth Waterside Workers’ Union held Yesterday morning the following rcsoluiOh whs carried, members standing ih silence: “That the members of the New Plymouth Waterside Workers’ Union wish to extend their deepest sympathy to dll those who have lost those near dnd dear to them ih the recent earthquake disaster on the east coast. Wo earnestly trust that the death-roll will not be as great as reports at present indicate. To the injdrfed we extend our heartfelt sympathy with a sincere wish that they make a speedy recovery.” The sum of £25 was forwarded to the New Zealand Waterside Workers’ Federation for the purpose of relieving immediate distress among waterside workers at Napier with the offer of further assistance if it is requited. When the New Plymouth Police Court opened yesterday morning, Mr. It. W. Tate, S.M., siid that beforb the business Was commenced ho would dsk those present to rise and stand in silence for a minute as a mark of sorrow with those concerned in the national calamity that had overtaken the Dominion at Napier. Silence for d minute was then observed in the courtroom. The congregation of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, New Plymouth, at its annual meeting last evening resolved to sfend a telegram to the Rey. J. A. Asher, Napier, sympathising with himself and St. Paul’s congregation in the destruction of their new church. The New Plymouth Red Cross Society passed a vote of sympathy with the relatives of those killed and with the residents of the stricken area, **'