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Yugoslavian earthquake victims flee in panic

NZPA Dubrovnik Tens of thousands of panic-stricken people, victims of Yugoslavia’s worst earthquake this century, are sleeping in the open away from the ruins of their shattered homes. At least 200 persons were killed and hundreds more suffered .injuries in the earthquake, which hit Yugoslavia’s southern Adriatic resort region just after dawn on Sunday, sending parts of the coast tumbling into the sea. Deaths and injuries were also reported in Albania. Countless buildings, ranging from hospitals and hotels to peasant cottages, were wrecked by the ‘quake and a second tremor 30 minutes later. Altogether there were 115 aftershocks during the day. The first shock, which reverberated into Italy, Austria, Greece, Albania, and Bulgaria, was more powerful than the one which devastated the Yugoslav city of Skopje in 1963, when more than 1000 were killed. Mr Vladimir Ribaric, chief of the geophysical observatory in Ljubljana, said that the earthquake registered 7.2 on the Richter scale, 1.2 points higher than the Skopje tremor. However, its epicentre was on the seabed, lessening the impact. Belgrade scientists said that the earthquake originated about 19km beneath the Earth’s surface. All road and rail links with the devastated area were cut by landslides, and air transport was the only way aid and supplies could be moved in. Many Western industrial countries have offered aid, but officials in Belgrade said that foreign assistance would be sought only if Yugoslavia could not cope.

President Tito made a radio appeal to Yugoslavs to do their utmost to help the disaster victims, and the Federal Government set up a Ministerial committee to co-ordinate the aid.

Teams of doctors were ferried by Army helicopters to the earthquake re-

gion, blood donors queued at collecting stations, and hundreds of tents, thousands of blankets, food, and other essential provisions were flown in, the officials said. Trained dogs were being used to help rescuers find people still buried under rubble from the destroyed buildings. The coastal towns of Budva, Bar, Ulcinj, Risan, and Kotor were the worst hit, and officials reported that the old parts of the towns were destroyed. Houses were either flattened or collapsed into the sea. Hundreds of thousands of tourists from all over Europe are regular spring visitors to the towns. The Yugoslav tourist organisation, Yugotours, said that 2000 foreign tourists staying in the stricken region had been transferred to the relative safety of Dubrovnik. It said that they were mostly West Germans, and also included a contingent of 98 Britons. Yugotours’ London office said that no injuries had been reported among the British group. Inland remote mountain villages were badly hit and were out of the reach of rescuers.

An epidemic is feared because of rotting carcases of domestic animals and contaminated water. Throughout the region there was a water shortage. Supplies were cut by the earthquake and survivors were urged to boil water before drinking it. A Reuter correspondent in the disaster area said that thousands of fires flickered eerily across the landscape during the night. They were lit by stunned families camping in their gardens or fields, surrounded by heaps of bedding and blankets. Mr Pero Sacic, standing next to his cracked home, told how a two-storey house nearby had slipped before his eyes into the bay, together with a long stretch of the road. “It was miraculous how the three people inside managed to scramble out of the door as the building slipped into deep water,” he said.

Mr Sacic said that an elderly man, Mr Marko Tortunic, managed to drag out his invalid wife and adult daughter. Modem buildings appeared to be only slightly damaged, missing tiles or parts of their roofs, but many old picturesque buildings collapsed en-

tirely. Some historical monuments, including ancient churches and towers, collapsed — many of them straight into deep sea.

The old citadel of Her-ceg-Novi, a famous landmark in the Bay of Kotor, crumbled into the Adriatic. Fourteen other buildings in the port were damaged by the first shock, and destroyed by the second. Local residents and officials told how huge tidal waves swept the bay, washing away many houses and hotels and swamping harbours. The captain of a ship which had been anchored a mile off Bar said: “The blow was tremendous. At first I thought some other ship had collided with us or we had run aground. I saw the Bar port sink slowly, and from over the hills large boulders rolled into the sea.” The director of the Sarajevo Zoo, more than 300 km from the coast, said that lions and bears had felt the ’quake coming hours in advance, and starting running in circles round their cages. Thirty-five persons were killed and 330 injured in Albania by the earthquake, said the Albanian news agency A.T.A. in Tirana. The agency reported heavy damage in Albania.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19790417.2.7

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Press, 17 April 1979, Page 1

Word count
Tapeke kupu
805

Yugoslavian earthquake victims flee in panic Press, 17 April 1979, Page 1

Yugoslavian earthquake victims flee in panic Press, 17 April 1979, Page 1

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