CONDUCT IN QUAKES

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 280, 25 August 1942, Page 3

CONDUCT IN QUAKES

Danger Of Running Out Of Doors LESSONS OF HAWKE’S BAY Advice not to run out of a building during an earthquake is given by the Commissioner of Police, Mr. D. J. Cummings, who lin’d experience of the Hawke’s Bay earthquake in 1931, and who, as an inspector, was in charge of the police work after the disaster. •'No rule or advice can meet all circumstances, but, generally speaking, themargin of safety for those who remain inside buildings has been proved to be so much greater than for those wiio attempt to rush outside to supposed safety that the general advice must be that people should remain in their 'buildings during earthquake shock,’’ he said. ‘‘The effect and consequences of the 1931 shocks in Napier and Hastings showed that the greater danger of personal injury in cities and towns during earthquake is in narrow streets

faced by tall buildings, and that those who work or who are shopping or calling in city buildings can ensure a greater safety if they will understand ' that the risk is less to people who keep their heads and refuse to act in a panic on what they say is their ’•instinct’ to get out of doors.” The Hawke’s Bay earthquake occurred a few minutes before 11 a.m.; Napier and Hastings shops, offices, and streets -were busy. There was a rush by those inside buildings to get outside, and of the total of over 200 people killed and many hundreds injured—the exact number of those injured was n'ever determined —most were struck down as they ran from doorways, just as they imagined they had reached safety, and on footpaths and in the streets.

‘‘What is not realized by those who

have not seen the effects of violent shock upon buildings is that bricks and masonry do not simply fall, but "are hurled to the roadway, and from tall buildings may bury the street from side to side,” said Mr. Cummings. Wooden Houses Safe.

Some buildings did collapse with tragic consequences at Napier and Hastings, but of the total casualties only a small proportion of the victims were injured inside buildings and a still smaller proportion were fatally injured inside. Almost invariably walls collapsed outward, not inward. Wooden buildings and wooden homes were generally quite safe for those who remained indoors.

“My advice to people in wooden buildings or houses during earthquake is that they stay inside unless there is danger from outside the building, as from landslide or overwhelming, or where the building might collapse with the fall of cliffs or high banks, but people remaining inside should stand away from chimneys', heavy furniture, and stacks of goods,” said Mr. Cummings. Fortunately -no severe shake had occurred in New Zealand during entertainment hours, continued Mr. Cummings. There was need of the most complete self-discipline among theatre audiences, for the discipline that would avert panic must come from within the audience —there was no time in seconds for discipline to be imposed from without. Time and time again it had been demonstrated that the terrible consequences of panic among big audiences resulted from the first blind, thought to get outside from a danger, real or supposed, but in either case a -lesser danger than that from trampling and crushing. One could imagine nothing jnore tragic than fatal panic in a crowded theatre during earthquake shock of the moderate intensity of those experienced in Wellington, for every theatre remained safe, but a blind rush would have brought injury and perhaps death to some.

Mr. Cummings suggested the following general rules: — Unless there are special circumstances, stay inside, standing away from outside walls, chimneys and heavy fittings and stacks of goods; in homes stand in a doorway. If in city streets move away frojn tall ‘buildings into wide spaces if that is possible (Post Office Square, Courtenay place, etc.) or from brick fronts to fronts of modern earthquake-resisting buildings, or wooden buildings. Do not hurry outside till the violence of the shake has ceased, keep clear of chimneys and broken walls. Guard against lire following earthquake.