RELIEF DOCTOR’S TASK

Taranaki Daily News, 6 February 1931, Page 8

RELIEF DOCTOR’S TASK

WORK IN STRICKEN AREA QUICK MEDICAL ORGANISATION. SIXTY DOCTORS WITHIN Z 24 HOURS Within 24 hours after the earthquake there were 50 to 60 doctors and 110 nurses at Napier. They came by car, aeroplane and warship. The medical man of-the hour during the disaster was Dr. Shepherd, house surgeon at Napier, assisted by the other Napier medical men, Dr. Berry, Dr. Briggs and others. The general plan was to get the patients attended to as rapidly as possible and. evacuate them from the town. The victims were extricated from the ruins and taken to several depots established in open spaces. The New Plymouth medical party, with the medical superintendent (Dr. Rich) at its head, went to the Napier racecourse, where four operating theatres had been rigged up and the doctors and nurses had been working from the afternoon of the tragedy until 6 o’clock next morning. When the New Plymouth party had arrived at about 7 o’clock on Wednesday morning most of the actual bodily injuries had been attended to. . The next step was the evacuation of the wounded to the nearest railhead at Otane, . which was carried, out with a fleet of ambulances and cars. The nurses were ably assisted by trained orderlies from the -warships and by midday on Wednesday the work of despatching the wounded from the town Was practically over.

At first there was a shortage of medical supplies, but they came constantly to. hand from the neighbouring towns. The Dunedin and Diomede brought ample supplies, but not till the worst was over. A hospital train organised in Wellington w-as sent to Otane and left Otane at 2 o’clock on Wednesday. “Napier was a shambles,” said Dr. Rich. “The ground w-as still quaking at intervals and during operations the 'doctors stood by, waited till the shake was over and then went on. After,, they had been attended to the patients were laid in long rows on beds and stretchers. A canvas shelter was erected over each pair of beds. The New Plymouth party had returned to New Plymouth by 3.30 yesterday morning. EXPERIENCE OF NURSES. They left New'Plymouth at 6 o’clock on the Tuesday night, said Nurses B. Bacchus and M. Paterson, of the New Plymouth hospital staff, and had reached Napier at 5.30 on the Wednesday morning. Just outside Hastings they had almost had a smash through a branch of a tree fallen across the road. Near Hastings the bridge had collapsed and they had to enter by another road. Day was just breaking when they came into Napier, -where people were Jyiiig everywhere' in the streets. In the streets were old women and women with babies and people lighting fires. There were gaps a foot wide in the road. The asphalt, where it had not broken, was full of waves. They had first been .sent to Nelson Park, a piece of reclaimed land, but there they had to eyacuate the depot as the water was steadily rising. The mains were burst and a river was thrown out of its course nearby.

Then the nurses were transferred to the racecourse by a temporary road. The railway lines nearby looked as if they had been marcelle waved. At the racecourse they found Sister Hobbs, recently on jhe staff of the New Plymouth hospital. The men from the Veronica who were conducting the canteen part of the depot, making tea and boiling water, were splendid. The patients, many of them the patients from the Napier hospital, were under tent covers. Patients were being taken away'. in buses made into tempor-

ary ambulances by removing the seats. By 11 o’clock all the injured had been attended to and were ready to go. Dr. ■Shepherd had been operating half the night in the theatre in the grandstand. The most pathetic people of all were the old people, said tire nurses. Service cars'were leaving Napier as soon as they were filled. They had left for New Plymouth in a seven-seater car carrying 10 adults and four children. ■ “There has been some criticism that there were more doctors and. nurses at .Napier than were necessary,” said Dr. G. H. Thomson, who returned to New Plymouth yesterday. “To that the reply is that there was no communication between Napier and other districts, that men were able ,to step in and take spells and that it is far better in such'cases to have too many doctors and slight overlapping than to have only half enough.” • . His party had arrived at Napier at 8 o’clock on the Wednesday niorning, said Dr. Thomson. Each medical party which arrived had brought'its own-equip-ment and most of them when they came to the last possible tow-n bought food and petrol to take in. ■. . . “When one takes into consideration the fact that that one town in one morning lost all its services, its transport, its* lighting, its water,” said the doctor, “theiT the achievement of getting every injured man out of Napier in lb hours is remarkable. “There was only one road out of Napier and the road- and the bridge were buckled. It would have been better if the police block at Napier had been set up as early asjt had at Hastings. “THOUSANDS OF SIGHTSEERS.” “There must have been several thousands at Napier who were pure sightseers,” said Dr. Thomson. “At Hastings, however, the moment one arrived one was met by a territorial with XVcbb equipment and asked one’s business; ,■ His party had been told to report to Dr. Biggs on the Veronica, who had sent them on to the racecourse. There they found that the bulk of the work had been done. Dr. Shepherd and the other doctors had done splendid work. Some of them had begun work immediately after the disaster and had gone straight on without even knowing where their families were or whether their houses were standing. The work -was wonderfully efficient. The patients were not kept waiting, were well covered from the wind and the work went on in a continuous scheme. The difficulty in the first few hours after t.\o quake, according to the hospital- sisters, said the doctor, was to make people realise that the must do something for themselves. They were dazed. Person after person simply sat on their front lawns, not stirring to get out their blankets or food. The women were -wonderful, a workman had told him, simply not letting people give way. “About the town itself,” he said, the thing that struck us was that many of the newer buildings had been not properly built. The wooden buildings stood it very well but collapsed in the fires. Eight out of every ten houses will have to come down. Almost every brek build; ing is down in separate bricks, Our impression was that the only thing to do is to completely clear Napier, re-open and re-build it entirely, or just abandon it. With Hastings it is different Hastings has -wide streets and is well laid out and outside the centre of the town there is not so much damage. At -Napier there were splits in the ground, even in the bowling greens. One bowfling green had- three- successive terraces rising one above the other on its surface. The Technical School where the boys were killed was a jagged mass of mortar. In many houses the walls went sideways and the roof went just flat down One house was fantastically hanging half over a 300 ft. cliff. Behind it another house sat on its wash-house or scullery “as if the houses had been playing leap-frog.” , . n a Individual communities had .handled the job splendidly. People had. been pulled out from the debris, carried by stretcher over broken roads without lights, fixed up in bed and fairly comfortable, and the majority had been sent away by nine o’clock next morning. All this apart from the fact that the people had been crazed. It had all been up to tradition. ■ ■ _ Drs. G. H. Thomson, H. P. Gray, P. C. Davie, E. D. Brown and Orchard all returned to-New Plymouth from Hawke’s Bay yesterday.

THE TORTURE OF SUSPENSE

SEARCH FOR MISSING RELATIVES.

OLD MAN AND HIS DAUGHTER.

Perhaps worse in its effect than the first great shock and the awful sense of tragedy and desolation that followed was the gnawing suspense that gripped the earthquake victims later. How had their friends and relatives fared? Were they dead or alive?

Still suffering the shock of the big upheaval and terrifying falls', of masonry, overwrought and unbalanced, men and women walked the half-buried streets that trembled yet, and searched this' way and that for friend or relative. Their helplessness in a task that was usually hopeless was .pitiful.

Mr. D. G. ■ Sutherland, who arrived at New Plymouth last night, had a fortunate escape from Murray, Roberts building in which he was employed.. On Wednesday he and the' accountant returned to the ruined, building and for some time searched around alarge pile of masonry for a girl, who was, missing. Of all the typists she alone, had failed to reach the street. But their task. was hopeless, for they could not get within I's feet of where she had been sitting. ■ Enquiries for missing relatives were made in every direction by wondering searchers. The strain of suspense showed plainly in their faces. ‘Tm all right and my husband, too,” ' said one woman to Mrs. Sutherland, “but do you know where —’s husband is?” “Poor, man, he’s . gpne,” replied Mrs. Sutherland. ‘‘He’s dead.” “Oh, thank God —thank. God we know,”, said the woman with a sigh of relief. - Though sorrow had replaced it, the terrible suspense was over. It was 5 o’clock yesterday morning when Mr. and Mrs. Sutherland were on the railway station, before setting out for New Plymouth. Au old man, worn out and cold walked uncertainly along the platform. He looked anxiously from side to side. He questioned everyone he met. , ■.

“I’m looking for my girl,” he said as he! came abreast of the . Sutherlands. “I have been walking about the streets and parks all night. Have you seen her, please ?” “What is her name?” asked Mrs. Sutherland. The old man told them.

The tumbled pile of masonry in Murray, Roberts’ buildings ‘was immediately recalled to Mr. Sutherland. The missing daughter lay beneath it. Her father, when he heard the news, was shocked and overcome, but, at least he was relieved of suspense. “Well, I’m glad to know what has become of her,” he said. “Thank you.”