A RAGE FOR LIFE

Chronicle (Levin), 22 October 1946, Page 5

A RAGE FOR LIFE

ISLAND VOLCANIC OUTBIJRST WLELIX GTO'X, Oct. 21. Vivid d'-sils of the experiences^ of the residents of the island of Xiuafoou are reported by the Suva correspoiuloiit of Ihe Xew Zealand Press Associatioii in an interview with Mr. S. Malekamu, wlio was the Tongan Government radio operator 011 tlie island at the time ot the volcanic ontbuj'st last montli. Mr. Malekamu declares that had all the craters 011 tlie' island erupted simuitaneouslv many of tlie islandevs would have been frapped with out hope of eseape, but fortunately the Angaha craters seemed to wai't until the people were out of the danger area before letfing everything go. He also believe& that had the first outbreak come in the niiddle of the night the loss of life would have been terrible. About 7 p.m. on September 9, a series of earth. tremors started reaching the freciuency of one every five seconiis. About S.15 p.m. he ran outside the radip station and found tlie western approacn to Augaha, tlie principal centre ot Xiuafoou, was a wall of flanie and sumkc hundreds of feet hig'h. "We conld hear great trees and coconut palms snapping, and found they were being mown dovvn by flood'ing waves oi liurning lava. The- fire, with asfounding .swil'tness, reached the western end of Angaha aird was almost at the hospitai. The whole area from the sea up to- Esia village and towards Rapaata village was ablaze. " Mr. Malekamu described how a few minutes after he left Ihe wireless station Ihe cfater seemed to open up from the sea. "We ran for our lives," he said, "straiglit through to Sapaata. A mass of men, women, and children, and animals was struggling up tlie hitl. Tlie whole seene was lit by tlie lnrid flare of the flames, but the moon was hidden liy soaring banks of fire and smo' e. Prom Sapaata we couid see that .the'.place where we had stood a short time before had disappeared under tlie bl'n zh! " Everyone headed for Mokotu, a poi 11 1 a mile from Angaha, and from Mokotu we conld see the fire surging over Aiigalia. " Later in the night. craters were seen to have oponed up all through A-ngatia, many of them spouting flames without lava. A survev next morning showed that, while tlie hospitai, scliool and the teachers' quarters had eseaped, everything else, including the Governmenr buildings, the Free Church oi' Tonga, and private houses had gone. There were. three big craters in Angaha and nine others on the outskirts. Yet anotlier crater in the sea itselr covered the Janding place with lava, giving the island the best anchorage ii has known. A lava pier runs well out to sea, but it remains to be seen whether it will withstand tlie force of tlie waves.