LIVING SEARCH FOR DEAD

Taranaki Daily News, 6 February 1931, Page 7

LIVING SEARCH FOR DEAD

NAPIER'S TOLL INDEFINITE

-MAY. -NOT BE KNOWN FOR MONTH,

COLLAPSE OF THE HIGH SCHOOL.

By Telegraph.—Press Association.

Wellington, Feb. 5, Further reports from the earthquake area indicate that it will be a long time before the full details of the Napier death roll will be available.. Names and particulars must wait until certainty is established.

Ten dead have already been recovered ?rom the Old People’s Home, which collapsed. Four people were killed by the breaking down of the brick cathedral while at morning service. In Dr Moore’s hospital there was a fatality and a girl at the Union Steamship office was killed at work.

It is generally believed that there are some cars and occupants beneath the ; great sjips round the Bluff. Single instances of people, including many women and children, being instantly killed by the collapse of homes are common. The town is one vast desolation with the living in search of the dead. It will be a month before all the corpses can be recovered. Energies are mostly being devoted to getting out those who have a chance of surviving. From the look of their homes it is known that there are many people under the buildings, which will take days to remove from above them.

It is estimated that £2,500,000 worth of damage has been caused in the city area alone and some people are wondering whether the tackling of rebuilding central Napier is worth while. Men who saw the war through and were there inured to frightful sights were frankly broken by the dreadful injuries seen yesterday when removing dead and injured. Everyone has a tale to tell of miraculous escapes or pathetic fatalities. One of the most remarkable escapes was at the Napier Boys’ High School where 200 boys had just been taken out on the parade ground when the shake occurred. The headmaster, Mr. Foster, came running out of the assembly hall liferally as it collapsed and a huge piece of masonry appeared to drive him into the earth, but it broke in two half-ton pieces, falling either side of him, and when the dust cleared he had merely a bruised leg. In a tobacco factory at Fort Ahuriri, where 50 girls were employed, only one was injured. The shock was followed by a fire which with a high wind spread without a check because the town’s water supply was cut off by burst pipes. A single fire engine played sea water on the nearest buildings but for the most part the brigade, as well as owners, was powerless. Too much cannot be said of the splendid spirit of the Napier people and the greatest admiration is expressed for the conduct of the women in the fact of harrowing scenes. There were some particularly tragic features of the calamity at the Napier Technical School, It was the old building which crumbled, while not very far away was the new building, which had stood the earthquake well, but,,alas, the children' had started the year in'the old one. They had started that very day (Tuesday), “l&y boy began his school year at 9 a.m. and Ije was dead at 11,” said a parent. There was a pitiful scene at night as residents sought slumber on the sands between the line of burning buildings and the line of the surf.

Th© number, of two-storied, threestoried and four-storied buildings ruined is too great to be sounted. Ruin seems to have overtaken all big businesses in the way of drapery, including. Blythe’s, McGruer’s and Barker’s, the D.S.L., Hannah’s, Hallenstein’s and the Hawke’s Bay Farmers. Besides the Masonic Hotel it is reported that the Criterion, Central and Provincial Hotels are destroyed.

The earthquake shook the Boer War memorial and destroyed the. head of the trooper, but it was recovered and placed on the steps. The. railway line has been temporarily repaired to Hastings, and traffic is being worked to that point. Rolling stock from all parts of the North Island is being assembled at all available places along the line in readiness to carry out th© work of evacuating Napier.

CATHEDRAL DEMOLISHED

CONGREGATION AT COMMUNION.

TRAGIC DEATH OF WOMAN.

Waipawa, Feb. 5.

One of the most pathetic of the many heart-rending incidents attending the earthquake occurred in St. John’s Anglican Cathedral, in which communion service was being conducted by th© Very Rev. Dean. Brocklehurst. When the shock came there was a fairly large congregation. The shock came with terrific suddenness and tlie whole building-, which was of brick, crumbled to the ground and caught several of the congregation. A large girder struck Mrs. Tom Barry, senior, pinning her to toe floor. Her son saw her plight and did his best to release her without avail. Efforts of others were also fruitless. Then the building caught fire and the flames swept closer to Mrs. Barry. By this time those around her were playing a hoso on her and on the timber around. It was then seen that rescue was impossible and as a last resort a doctor rushed to the agonised woman and gave her a strong injection of morphia. It is believed that others were buried in the ruins of the cathedral, which was regarded as a particularly fine structure. Dean . Brocklehurst is very seriously injured and his condition is stated to be critical. A curious sight was presented after the upheaval by the war memorial in the cathedral ground. This is a large cross in stone and, in spit© of the fact that every other monument in town was either broken or torn out of place, the cross stood erect and unscathed.

Numerous miraculous escapes are reported by eyewitnesses. The shake threw out the whole front of the Masonic Hotel on the Farads and the interior was laid bare. The crowd in the street saw a woman seated in an armchair near the edge of the third and top storey. She had to bend because the ceiling had caved in. She made as if to jump from the room but was dissuaded from this by shouts. In obvious terror the woman sat in the precariously placed chair until a fireman rescued her with a ladder.