TRAGIC TOLL TAKEN IN TURKEY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20133, 30 December 1939, Page 5

TRAGIC TOLL TAKEN IN TURKEY

THOUSANDS BURIED IN DEBRIS TWELVE PROVINCIAL TOWNS RAZED i WRECKAGE OF UP TO EIGHTY VILLAGES RESIDENTS TRAPPED IN HOLOCAUST (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. Dee. 30, 11.15 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 29. The earthquake in Anatolia and Morocco partly or completely wrecked 12 provincial towns, each of between 10,000, and 40,000 inhabitants, besides 80 villages. - T v Numbers of people were trapped without assistance in the ruins. The full extent of the disaster is unlikely to be learned for some .time, Anatolia being again cut off by telephonic communication from .the western capitals, indicating that there have been further shocks, two of which were recorded on the seismograph at 3.28 p.m. The estimate of 40,000 casualties is not confirmed, but other sources say .there are 8000 dead. A blizzard has covered the whole of the earthquake area. The estimates of the dead are rocketing. It is stated that thousands are still buried under the debris. The Turkish President, General Tnonu went to the scene in order to take over the direction of the rescue work. Thousands of people who lied to the fields were frozen to death. Relief expeditions battled through the blizzard over mountain roads and on railways in the hope of aiding .the victims of pneumonia and typhoid which arc already spreading. Entire Zone Strewn With. Debris The entire northern stretch of Anatolia is strewn with debris among which lie countless dead. Whole families were crushed while in bed. Those who escaped were trapped in the streets and many were burned alive in a holocaust caused by broken gas mains and burst oil lamps owing to the absence of fire-fighting equipment.

J ; Erzindjan was a flaming ruin after the earlier shocks. Every large building collapsed, while 953 people were killed and 443 injured at Tokat.

A tempest on the Black Sea before the first tremor tore ships from their moorings and battered down homes, many of of which were swept to sea with their screaming occupants.

The centre of .the earthquake is believed to be the Janik Mountains, 10,000 ft. high.

The British Government has conveyed its sympathy to the - Turkish Government in connection with the disaster.