JAPANESE DISASTER.

Hokitika Guardian, 5 September 1923, Page 3

JAPANESE DISASTER.

LATEST CABLE NEWS

AUSTRALIAN AND N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION. TO AVOID THE PLAGUE. (Received this day at 8 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 3. Reports from Tokio and Yokohama state that huge pyres of corpses of two hundred thousand victims are being cremated and there are wholesale funerals taking place in an effort to avoid the plague. The bodies are thrown into the- burning ruins while a hundred priests conduct the rites Half a million is the lowest estimate of the homeless. The Italian Embassy "ns destroyed. BOMBS USED TO CHECK FIRE. 'Received tin's day at 8 a.m.) PEKIN, September 3. A train on the Tokio-Sindaj railway crossed a bridge damaged by the earthquake and fell into the river. There are five hundred dead. The chief cause of the conflagrations was the breaking of the gaspipes. The firemen were helpless against the strong wind and the fires.raged unabated until Sunday night, when drastic demolition with bombs began to have effect. R EFUGEES HALF-DROWNED. (Received this day at 8 a.m.) SHANGHAI, Sept. 3. Thousands of refugees in Yokohama, Park were half drowned by a flood, caused by the breaking of the «. C water -pipes. The lire in Tokio seems to have subsided and this probably means that, nothing inflammable is left. The Chinese Legation was burned Older is being gradually icst-i'ed.

The inmates of the Tokio , rivm. it: eluding the Socialists who were recently arrested, were released \ hen the prison took fire. The Nagasaki relief bureau an liounces that three hundred and filty thousand houses were destroyed in Tokio and the casualties are 1.‘10,000. ,'IOO,OOO HOUSES DESTROYED. SAN EM ANCfSOO, Sept. 4 According to a report to the Madio Corporation of America, the Metropolitan police of Tokio state that the earthquake and the fire rasunltie* amount to half a million persons. Three hundred thousand houses have been burnt. FOOD SITUATION ACUTE. AMERICAN Ain. ,'Received this day at 8.30 a.m.) WASHINGTON, Sept. 4. All members of the American Embassy ill Tokio are safe. Ambassador Woods advised the State Department to-day, in the first message received since the Japanese disaster, that ali the Embassy buildings wore destroyed. He said that the food situation was acute and asked that rations he sent from the Phillipines. The United States Consul, Mr Davis, at Shanghai also reported that Tokio, Yokohama and Yokosuka have been completely wiped out. The casualties mmnii, foreigners are very numerous.

Admiral Anderson radioed that he lias placed the entire American Asiatic Fleet, consisting of nineteen destroyers and two gunboats, at the disposal of the Japanese. The Embassy, which has not yet received anv official information from their connection in Japan, and for which reason the American relief plans are somewhat held in abeyance, President Coolidge directed the Shipping Hoard to prepare to send ships to Japan, if they should he needed, to remove the refugees from flic devastated areas.

THE KINO’S MESS AO K. LONDON, Sept. 4. *" ' King George has telegraphed to the Emperor of Japan:—“l hasten to express to .vour Imperial .Majesty the horror with which I have learnt of the appalling disaster which has befallen your country. 1 sympathise profoundly with Your Majesty in this overwhelming catastrophe, resulting in the loss of life, property and untold sufiering for thousands of your people.” FURTHER DETAILS. IKeeaived this day at 9.'15 am.) NEW YORK, Sept. 4. Supplementary details ol the Japanese disaster which have been received by the newspapers here from Osaka - -.are as follows:

It is known that the Italian and French Embassies in Tokio were destroyed, hut nothing is known concerning the saicty ol the diplomatic representatives. ’ Osaka newspapers sent reporters in airplanes to view Tokio but smoke shut off the view. A grotesque touch to the horror, now cxistim' in Yokohama and lokio. has been added to bv the acute shortage of food. People can be seen fighting in the Hihiyia Park in an attempt to fuleh carp in the pond there. I lie price of rice is mounting to the sky and nobody is permitted to enter Tokio unless they are carrying their own food. A supply of a hundred thousands tons of rice is needed. Three Japanese torpedo boats in the Yokohama harbour when the tidal wave came were sunk. The exact damage to shipping lias not yet been determined.

THE CAUSE OF THE FTRE. (Received this day at 9.45 a.m.) NEW YORK, Sept. 3. The editor of the "Osaka Osahi" has cabled the editor of the “New York Times” that the Imperial Palace caught Are hut there was no serious damage done ami the Prince Regent, removed immediately to his Akasnkn Palace. The Emperor and Empress are safe at their Nikko suniimv palace. The chief cause of the Tokio and Yokohama conflagration was the breaking of the gas pipes through collapse of houses. The buildings destroyed in Tokio include the Aletiopolitan police office, the Rank of Japan and other large hanking business houses, and the Tokio central station. The Sunieda river was flooded hv the seismic wave, drowning many persons. The railways for miles about lokio are torn up. The Yokosuka naval base has boon totally destroyed and all the lighthouses in Tokio Rav collapsed, making navigation dangerous and vessels at Kamakura Naval Station are reported to be aground.

NO TIMBER FOR COFFINS. 'Received this day at 9.45 a.m.) PEKIN, Sept. It. A wireless despatch reported that Prince Yamashina and the mother ol Prince Kuyanomiun were killed. Prince Mathukata was fatally injmod when his house at Kamakura collapsed. So enormous is -the number of dead in the cities that lumber for the coffins is lacking. Hence stricken municipalities are turning the burning buildings into huge funeral pvros and such wholesale cremations are also taking place in Tokio and Yokoh.atnia, hundreds of . victims luring thrown into the flaming debris.

PITIABLE SCENES. BRIDGES COLLAPSE. (Received this day at 11.10 a.m.) SHANGHAI. Sept. 4. Eye-witnesses' stories from Tokio suite that many refugees died of the heat, which registered at one lime one hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit. An account of the conflagration says that the sufferings of the refugees were aggravated by the t."incutin! rain since Sunday evening. Ten thousand wenassembled in the parks presenting a pitiable scene, the aged and sick being tramped to death. A bridge across the Suniida (ollapsod with the weight of thousands of refugees, the majority being precipitated into the river and drowned. Another bridge gave way. three hundred persons being (lung into the river. VARIOUS REPORTS. LOSSES AND DAMAGE. [R KUTEKS T ELKO RAMS.] (Received this dnv at 12.25 p.m.) SHANGHAI, Sept. -I. Osaka reports that the Island of Asliinia, off the Idzu Peninsula, has disappeared. Nagasaki reports that tho Prince Regent gave a hundred million yen for relief, and instructed the Government to unite in an effort to alleviate the distress. Prime Kbimadzu is reported to have died. Relief funds arc rapidly (lowing in from many sources. Foreign residents at Kobe raised fifty thousand yen in a few hours. While all modern structures collapsed the Pagoda at Unyeu’s Park is about the only remnant til ancient architecture intact.

CONSULS AMONG KILLED. (“Sydney Sun" Cables'). (Received this day at 12.45 p.m.) NEW YORK. Aug. 1.

Tokio advices state innumerable bodies clog the river Kumida. Ilowing through tho city. Thousands of frenzied people overcome with excitement threw themselves into the river while the shocks were occurring. It is reported the British Consul at Yokohama and one thousand British. French and Americans are dead; also tile Okana and Hiramnna members of the new Cabinet, were burned to death. Other reports state the Dowager Princesses Yossiki and Yamnshina were crushed to death. The town of Chula is practicalv wiped out and the population of filty thousand are nearly all killed. Osaka advices state the foreign settlement at Yokohama was completely destroyed. The British and American Consuls were killed, otherwise few foreigners lost their lives. Princess Kannyu and her son. Prince Higashikui were killed. JAPAN'S ROYALTY KILLED. (Received this day at 12.15 p.m.) WASHINGTON. Sept. 4. According to a message to the Japanese Embassy here the Princesses I iimiishina and Him Kanin. Prince Moroni nsa. Ligasliikunn, and all members ol the Royal Family, who were staying at a summer resort, were killed.