RAPID ACTION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 81, 6 April 1934, Page 3

RAPID ACTION

EARTHQUAKE TEST RESPONSE ON RAILWAYS THE MIDNIGHT CALL. After the Napier earthquake it was agreed that communities living iu the earthquake belt should have emergency organisations—organisations of men and women who should at once proceed to do certain things (such as inspection of public services like water aud power, or mobilisation of needed supplies) in the event of a big earthquake occurring. It was agreed that a prepared plan, plus teamwork, could do much to alleviate suffering and damage, and to effect rescue and repair, in such an emergency. And communities and municipalities agreed to make such, plans and to set up organisations. No attempt seems to have been made to examine comprehensively how these emergency organisations stood the test of the recent earthquake. But the city engineer of Wanganui did go out of his way to report publicly that the earthquake organisation in Wanganui functioned immediately and effectively. As the Government Geologist has pointed out, the recent earthquake was not one of New Zealand’s half-dozen great earthquakes. But it was sufficiently severe to test organisations in the affected area, and even go far away as Wanganui. Service with Eyes and Ears. Now there is iu New Zealand a ready-made organisation which has its i t racks and telegraphs far-flung up and down the country, and which has eyes and ears ever in touch with the central control. That is the railway service. The Department of Railways is an organisation which is not intermittent nor dormant but always alive. It scarcely sleeps. At any rate, within approximately two hours of the recent earthquake (which was timed as occurring 12 minutes before midnight) a break-down gang left Wellington for the nearest reported place of damage, near Paraparaumu. Mr. G. H. Mackley, General Manager of Bailways, tells how it was done in his periodical message, published in the current issue of the New Zealand Railways Alagazine:— “The measure of alertness constantly required on any; railway system develops as the expedience of the individual increases. This results in tho creation of a kind of sixth sense amongst the employees in regard to factors of danger, that aids in the prevention of accident, and has had much to do with the notable record of safety associated with the operations of this form of transport. It may be interesting to the public to k»ow just what the railway men in New Zealand do when some unusual occurrence, such as the recent earthquake, calls for special precautions to ensure the safety of travellers. Immediately tho shake. of Alarch 5 occurred, the department’s own telephone and telegraph system was used to discover and record the actual area along railway routes in any way affected by the disturbance. The earthquake occurred at 11.48 p.m. Within approximately two hours the engineer in charge of the district left Wellington with a break-down train and repair gang for the spot (near Paraparaumu) where repairs were most urgently required from a traffic viewpoint. By 7 a.m. the track was sufficiently repaired for the slow passage of trains. Inspection of Structures. “Besides special inspection and patrol by all track maintenance gangs, and the issuing of instructions to enginedrivers to proceed cautiously, arrangements were made for careful inspection of all kinds of structures, especially those, such as bridges, tunnels, culverts, etc., in any way associated with running tracks. For this purpose the new rail-car was immediately requisitioned for the chief engineer and his inspecting officers to travel the route through the Wairarapa, Hawke’s Bay. and Manawatu districts, examining, and where considered desirable, testing, everything of importance for safety en route. The greatest delay to any train running when the earthquake occurred was less than four hours, no passenger service w r as cancelled and, although in places tracks subsided, slips occurred, and tracks got out of alignment, no accident of any kind occurred to any passenger or goods train on tho railway. It is estimated that railway repairs will cost £3OOO. “I wish on behalf of the Govern-; ment Railways Board and myself to express tc the staff appreciation of their good service on this occasion. Their handling of tho whole emergency was excellent and the standard of service which is associated with our maintenance and train running staffs on occasions of crave emergency was fully maintained. ’’

An earthquake may be compared with a mishap at sea. A ship may touch or she may strike heavily. A shock of wrecking dimensions, whether at sea or on land, gives its own signal. It touches its own button. At once the emergency machinery of the ship functions, watertight doors are closed, asd so on. And. on land, the emergency machinery of the railway service acts automatic ily, as above. Are municipal organisations —allowing for their necessary limitations—similarly effective? Water and electrical services are as vital as railways.