JAPANESE DISASTER.

Hokitika Guardian, 7 September 1923, Page 2

JAPANESE DISASTER.

LATEST CABLE NEWS

AUSTRALIAN AND N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION. NEW ISLAND APPEARS. PEKIN, Sept. 5. A new island lias appeared, 40 miles ( south of Yokohama City, where Pos- ' hima Island stood. The hitter island apparently sank, drowning its population. Officials fear there have been extremely high casualties in the mountain districts, whence official work is still lacking. Out of 10.000 Chinese in Yokohama, 5.000 were killed. “Chinatown” then went down in an avalanche of bricks. V passenger train was at a standstill at a Station near Atami on Saturday, when the earthquake began. It was thrown into the sea. Three hundred of the passengers were drowned, v_ w-hile 30 were saved by swimming / train was precipitated into a field between Hiratsuka and Ooiso, killing 2G passengers, including an American military attache, and a secretary to tho German Embassy. Refugees from Yokohama are pouring into Kobe. Many are groaning painfully from injuries. The majority are destitute of clothing. The Japanese officials estimate that over 200 foreigners perished in > okohama on Saturday, while relatively few foreigners died in Tokio.

YOKOHAMA HARBOUR SHAL- v LOWED. NEW YORK, Sept G. A dispatch to the Shipping Board from its Manilla agent has reported that all the vessels in the Government fleet in' the earthquake zone are safe. Tt is stated the floor of Yokohama harbour has been raised, thus trapping several ships inside the port. It is suggested that this might necessitate the use of Kobe harbour as the principal receiving port for the lelief supplies. AFRAID OF SHALLOWED j HARBOUR. r SHANGHAI, Sept. 5. Some American destroyers, with Y limited amount of fond and medical supplies, have arrived off Yokohama. They are waiting to make soundings in the harbour, before approaching to unload. All American ships m the area of the earthquake are safe. 8(H) FOREIGNERS KILLED. NEW YORK, Sept. 6. The “Times” states that, according to advice from various places, probably 800 foreigners were killed in tlie Japanese- disaster. MORE QUAKES. PARIS, Sept. ■). A wireless message from Moscow j KC .,trw that three shocks of earthquake wore felt in Turkestan on Monday hist, 3rd. inst., and several villages were completely destroyed.

YOKOHAMA’S RUIN. FEARFUL STORY' OF REFUGEES. LONDON, Sept. 5. The Timioka wireless states that six million people are homeless in Kobe. The wireless says the refugees describe Yokohama as a charnel-house canals and waterfronts are filled with dead. The stench of the decomposing bodies and the violent heat are unbearable-. The early reports that two hundred foreigners were lost there are confirmed. Those killed were- mostly caught shopping in the “down town district. The British and American residents who escaped arc gathering the bodies of their confreres lor burial

nt sen, The remnants of the Chinese population in Yokohama are gathered under the Bluff, without food or shelter. Their condition is pitiable. The French Ambassador walked from Tokio to Yokohama, and hoarded the French steamer “Audio l.e Bon.” One foreigner, aboard the same ship, graphically describes the disaster., - With the sinking of the land of Yokohama, water spurted through innumerable cracks in the earth. A foot of water soon covered the streets of the city.

Yokohama is absolutely and completely ruined. All that is left is a shapeless quagmire, jammed with ruins, under which lie scores of the bodies of prominent foreigners, business men, clients, and stenographers employed in the steamship and other offices.

The Bluff, where the foreigners lived. is absolutely cleared of habitation and of life. The majority of the houses crashed completely. The fearful calls of the human victims were in mostcases unanswered. Flames, fanned by a fierce wind, hurst out everywhere Escape was blocked. Hundreds of people must have died of heart failure. Mirny Japanese servants died while trying to rescue foreign children in their care. The narrator saw one servant, with hair and clothing afire, hut who remained trying to aid the children till dead. SHANGHAI, Sept. 6. Mr Mntheson (correspondent of the Chicago Tribune) has arrived at Kobe from Yokohama. He said that no less than 600 of the foreigners resident, in Yokohama perished. Out of 200 visitors at the Grand Hotel, only,a few escaped. The Yokohama Club, where many were lunching, and the Oriental Palace Hotel literally sank into the ground. Nothing except the upper and part of the second floor was left nlxive the level of the hank. Frantic calls for help came from beneath the wreckage of the houses. Assistance was only possible in a few

The Temple Court Hotel, and tho Cherry Mount Hotel were completely thrown off the Bluff into tho town. The Bluff Hotel was hurled down to the bottom of Hoinoku, few of its occupants escaping.

ITALIAN LOSSES

ROME, Sept. 6. > That the Italian Ambassador has perished in Tokio seems to he indicated in a report from the French Consul at Kobe, announcing the Italian Embassy at Tokio and the Italian Consulate at Yokohama have been destroyed, but that the whole Italian colony in Japan are safe including the malic staff, excepting ilie Ambassador.

A SHIP SAFE. SAN FRANCISCO, Sent. 6. An radiogram from the Japanese Government has announced that the Tlaiyo Maru was endangered 900 miles off Yokohama. AUSTRALIAN AID. (Received this day at 8 a.m.) MELBOURNE, September 0. Tno Government lias decided immediately to dispatch a relief ship with food and clothing for Japan.

NEW JAP CABINET. SHANGHAI. Sept. t. Reports from Osaka state that, while the earthquake was still in progress, on Sunday evening, the ceremony of installing a new Cabinet was held in the presence of the Prince Regent-, outside the Akasaka Palace. Subsequently the first Cabinet meeting was held outride the Premier’s official residency and discussed relief measures.