SUDDEN CORKSCREW TWIST

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 30, 5 February 1931, Page 14

SUDDEN CORKSCREW TWIST

HAVOC IN HASTINGS

HASTINGS, Wednesday. An eye-witness of ■ tho ruin of Hastings, Mr. R. Barley, told a graphic story to one of the "Post" reporters now in tho devastated area. "Business was running smoothly until 10.48," he said, "when thero came a sudden corkscrew twist and the ground bucked and jockeyed. People looked at each other in bewilderment, and then rushed for doors and exits. While doing so, great buildings tumbled into ruins about them, trapping shop assistants and shoppers, and burying them in tho debris. The groans and cries of tho injured and dying rent the air. Roach's great central store crumpled up like a pack of cards, and many were caught I in tho human trap. The Post Office tower reeled into the road, and the i heavy masonry fell around the pedes- ( trians. The Grand Hotel, the town's largest building, was rent in twain, and on all sides the leading business premises came down. The only ones that seemed to escape were the ferroconcrete ones, and these stood immuno amidst a devastated area. The position was made worse by the outbreak of fires. The Fire Station collapsed, but engines wove got out, and a band of willing men worked desperately among the blazing ruins, extricating the iiiiurod and dying. Lifeless bodies were constantly dragged from the ruins. TORN AND SHATTERED. "Under the direction of Councillor Slater, organised bands of helpers were formed. Subsequently food parties rationed out supplies, and_ the town was roped off at dusk and picketted by volunteers. People slept in the parks and paddocks, but notwithstanding the

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terrible debacle, are bright and cheerful. The sun is now blazing in a cloudless sky upon a landscape torn and shattered. "Maori and pakeha have worked together in removing wreckage) and recovering the injured and dead. Next to tho library and Boach's, the worst centre of appalling loss was the block comprising the Cosy Theatre, the position here being made worse by the fires which broke out. The Methodist Church, with its fine tower, spilled with a mighty crash, splintering in all directions. In what was once Heretaimga street, the only buildings not affected were the wooden ones and the ferro-eonereto structures recently built. "The arterial roads now present a war-time spectacle, with fleets of Bed Cross cars and food lorries intermixed with thousands of curious people who simply add to the transport difficulties by their presence." A MIRACULOUS ESCAPE. Describing his own escape, Mi*. Barley said that he was in his factory at the time. Tho building tipped and tilted like a ship at sea, and all the conf ents of the, factory were flung hither and ,thither. "I saw other occupants dive out of a side entrance. There was a roar of falling' pillars and the shatter of broken glass. Quite: bewildored, I rushed for tho front door in a long narrow passage. As I did so, the way of escape was blocked by the banging of the door. I crouched like a rat beneath a concreto stairway. When the ground next tilted, the door was flung' open again, and I rushed out into the street to be met by1 a street, filled with bleeding . and battered humanity."