EARTHQUAKE DISASTER

Wairarapa Age, 13 March 1933, Page 5

EARTHQUAKE DISASTER

TRAIL OF DEATH & DESTRUCTION IN CALIFORNIA

HAVOC IN SOUTHERN PART OF STATE. HUNDREDS DEAD & THOUSANDS INJURED. INDUSTRIAL AREAS LAID WASTE. WORST VISITATION FOR MANY YEARS. * Large numbers of people were killed, or injured and an enormous amount of damage was done by an earthquake which rocked Southern California early on Fridaynight and has since been followed by other shocks of diminishing intensity. As reports stand, the heaviest loss of life occurred in the city of Los Angeles, but the greatest damage to property is reported in the seacoast town of Long Beach, which appears to have felt the maximum violence of the earthquake. Stories of devastation and havoc, resulting in many casualties including a considerable loss of life, come also from a number of smaller towns. Fires in some places added to the havoc wrought by the earthquakes. The stricken area includes some of the richest and most highly-developed territory in California. TRIANGLE OF DEATH. BANGS OF THE UPHEAVAL DESCRIBED. MANY COMMUNITIES SUFFER SEVERELY. (Received Sunday, 6.30 p.m.) LOS ANGELES, March 11. Part of the richest area in California, two hundred miles long and some thirty miles wide, was affected by the earthquake. The area extends from the Mexican border to Santa Barbara and from the seacoast to the mountains. More than two million people have been sMtled there since the last major earthquake of an apparent series which visits South California, in Nature’s continent building, every seventy-five years or so. The belt includes a hundred million dollar yearly citrus industry,,the heart of the motion picture industry and the largest number of homes of the wealthy from all parts of the continent of any place in the world. The motion picture plants, the home of the wealthy in Beverley Hills, Hollywood, Pasadena, Altadena and San Marino—in fact, tril of the areas of magnificent homes and estates—were merely on the fringe of the jolting waves of death and destruction. These centred in a triangular region, with its apex in the centre of down-town Los Angeles, and extending south-west through the industrial centres of Southern California. To the south, it fanned out into the oil regions of Santa Fe, the springs of Labrea and the groves of the orange country. In the centre, it went down the heart of the industrial section, embracing numerous communities and dealing with each in greater severity, with the worst havoc at Long Beach, a city made wealthy by its oil royalties, and perhaps best .known as a seashore city and the Mecca of summer visitors. To the westward, the triangle included rich Dominguez and Torrance oil fields and the largest oil storage plants and refineries in the world, in the region north of Long Beach and surrounding Los Angeles Harbour. At Pasadena the ’quake was what the Carnegie Institution’s Seismological Laboratory has been awaiting for years. Scientists believed that Southern California would experience another great earthquake and the Carnegie Institution was built on the fault, on the outskirts of Pasadena. Delicate self-recording instruments have been installed and careful records made with the hope of their being of value and that studying the earth disturbances leading up to this major ’quake would make it possible to forecast great tremors. It appeared that the epicentre of the present disturbances was in the San Pedro Channel.

FIRST & LATER SHOCKS. ACTIVE BELIEF MEASURES INSTITUTED. PEOPLE CROWD INTO PUBLIC PARKS. (Received Sunday, 6.33 Ip.m.) LOS ANGELES, March 11. Light earth shocks continued over South California on Saturday in thA wake of the terrifying ’quaW which early on Friday nigh# caused the death of at least 250 persons, injuries to thousands and millions of dollars' worth of property damage. There have been twenty-three distinct shocks, but they are generally of diminishing tendency. Most of * the deaths and destruction of property were confined to the initial t shock which was accompanied by a peculiar roar and which rocked a section of the on Friday, shaking buildings and walls down and starting fires. Some of Saturday’s shocks jarred more debris loose from buildings, particularly in the business section. At Long Beach, twenty miles south of here, which seemed to be the epicentre of the shake, at least 65 were killed and a thousand injured. r - Charles Richter, of the Carnegie Institution and Seismological Laboratary, Pasadena, expressed the opinion that the worst shocks were over, pointing to scientific records of a hundred shakes which were followed by milder shocks, like echoes.

With business buildings practically uninhabitable, Long Beach is a scene of relief work. A food shortage which was threatened has Jjeen averted, though hundreds are temporarily homeless. Just what the final figures of dead and injured may be no one can hazard. No cities were actually laid waste, nor was the skyline of Long Beach affected. In Los Angeles, no large building went down, but here and there throughout the industrial district scenes of damage are evident. Four circular motion shocks, making 22, were felt at 6.26, 6.48, 6.57 and 7.30 a.m. on Saturday. Long Beach is guarded by four thousand marines and sailors from the United States Battle Fleet. The city is believed to have received the brunt of the shocks. Although several small fires occurred, the only serious conflagration was in the Polytechnic High School, where the Science Hall was destroyed. Tho damage is estimated at from half a million to a million dollars. All large buildings in the city are reported to be standing, with the major damage confined to falling cornices, chimneys and plate-glass windows. Citizens fled from their homes and crowded the public parks to overflowing on Friday night. More than three thousand persons were treated at Los Angeles for injuries. Two hundred of these were hurt in jumping from windows, one hundred by explosions and fires, and three hundred by falling chimneys. Five hundred volunteer surgeons and nurses gave first aid. Long Beach is under martial law. There is no rioting. Five men were killed in the crash of the fire station. Two students died in the High School. A newspaper plant, theatre and large deoartment store were wrecked.

DEATHS & DAMAGE. (Received Sunday, 6.30 p.m.) . LOS ANGELES, March 11. One hundred and forty are dead and two thousand injured as a result of the earthquake. In Long Beach, 74 are dead, in Compton 18, in Huntington Park 16. The damage is estimated at thirty-five million dollars, twenty-five millions of it in Long Beach. LOS ANGELES SUFFERS. DEBRIS FALLS IN CROWDED STREETS. (Received Sunday, 7.45 p.m.) LOS ANGELES, March 10. A severe earthquake shook the city early to-night. Damage is visible on Broadway, in the business district, where a mass of bricks fell from a building, stopping street car traffic. The shocks came on as thousands of workers were crowding the down-town streets. A second severe shock swayed the city eleven minutes later. The first following a ’quake which jarred San Diego five minutes earlier, rocking buildings, but doing no apparent damage. Telephone lines are out of order and lights are out. Many windows were broken in some sections of the city. Ambulances carried several persons to hospitals from the down-town section. The walls of the old Chamber of Commerce building were tumbled. A third shock swayed the city later. Down-town traffic, street cars and automobiles were at a standstill for some time. The first shake lasted for several minutes. There was violent shaking in a north and south direction. The shock was the most severe for many years.

Several other shocks followed, but of lesser intensity than the first, 25 minutes later. The area affected by the ’quakes is so large that it might be hours before adequate reports are received as to the extent of the damage. A building collapsed in tho south-west section of the city and several persons were injured. A hundred motion picture workers rushed from the studios, when plaster rained on them. Some structures showed large cracks. At Santa Anna one was killed and many were injured by falling bricks.

BUILDINGS IN RUINS. DEVASTATION IN LONG BEACH. (Received Saturday, 7.45 p.m.) LONG BEACH, March 10. Business buildings are in ruins for three blocks. Another section lost theirfronts. The Farmers and Merchants’ Bank is a heap of ruins. A -force of 625 armed men from battleships landed, with medical equipment, to guard property. The San Diego police report a message from Long Beach saying: “It looks like all Long Beach on fire at 8 p.m. Many firemen and citizens were The Long Beach Police Dep-art-menbffnt 10.15 to-night, announced 25 to 50 dead and injured numbering befive hundred and a thousand. RELIEF PLANS. MADE BEFOREHAND BY NAVY. (Received Sunday, 11 p.m.) LOS ANGELES, March 12. No material damage is reported following an earth tremor hero, and four at Long Beach, within forty-five minutes on Saturday night. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands have deserted their homes in a hundred Southern California communities and are spending the night in the open. The official compilation of the toll of death, injury and property damage has been sidetracked while rehabilitation goes on. Reports on Saturday night indicated a death toll of 130, with fiye thousand injured. All but one thousand of the injured are first-aid eases. The property loss is approximately fifty million dollars. Rescue crews ministered relief to fifty thousand, while thousands helped to clear the debris. It is revealed that at the San Pedro Navy Rise there were pmns which allowed the licet to move quickly to relief and protective activity. The plans were made two years ago by Admiral Richard Leigh.

SHOCKS CONTINUE. (Received Sunday, 11.20 p.m.) LONG BEACH, March 12. The fifth sharp shock in four hours was felt at 1 a.m. on Sunday. THE SMALLER TOWNS. MANY BUILDINGS WRECKED AND DAMAGED. (Received Saturday, 7.45 p.m.) HUNTINGTON PARK (Cal.), March. 10. Five persons are known to have been killed. After the earthquake tremors, a number of public and private buildings took fire. The High School is in flames; also several industrial structures. At Compton, a dozen are dead. After a hurried survey of the ’quake wreckage, every business building was found to be wrecked or badly damaged. Compton is midway between Los Angeles and Long Beach. HAVOC IN SANTA ANNA. (Received Saturday, 7.45 p.m.) SANTA ANNA, March 10. The ’quake partly wrecked the Courthouse and the City Hall. The new Hall of Records, a Courthouse annexe caved in. UNCONFIRMED REPORT. DISASTER AT ELECTRIC PLANT. (Received Saturday, 7.45 p.m.) LOS ANGELES, March 10. An unconfirmed report has -been circulated in San Pedro that the terminals and plant of the Southern Californian Edison Company collapsed and that perhaps, two hundred employees were caught in the wreckage.