JAPANESE DISASTER.

Hokitika Guardian, 10 September 1923, Page 3

JAPANESE DISASTER.

ADMIRAL AND 'POLICEMEN .missing. (“Sydney Sun” Cables). (Received this day at 9.0 a.in.) OSAKA, Sept. 9. Yokosuka reports state that the warship Amagi, which was sunk at Martina, has been towed out damaged. The general army aviation headquarters are being moved to Osnkn. , • It is officially reported that Admiral Nomagulpi and a thousand Yokohama policemen are missing. ■CAUSE OF EARTHQUAKE. TERRIBLE .SQUALOR. (Received this day at !)._•> a.in.) NEW YORK, Sept. 0. There is general agreement among .Japanese scientists that the earthquake was a living convulsion of the volcano Osliima which, simultaneously with the quake. bur,l into terrific eruption, spreading drest nu-tiiyn everywhere and then, as il its tui> were spent in one great eflorl, it collapsed and sank into the sea. lo its sinking is attributed the tidal ware which swept the coastline. The "Choiago Tribune’s" correspondent thinks that live hundred foreigners were killed in Yokohama alone. Of two hundred guests at the Oriental Palace Hotel only a few escaped. r lhe United Club, Court and Cherrymount Hotels were obliterated. Wishing to avoid epidemics the medical authorities are making eveix effort to break the hordes of refugees clustered in the public parks of tincapital where terrible squalor prevails and every rule of sanitation is broken by the throngs who are forced to live in huddled confusion, being nimble to wash. They are wearing clothing taken from the corpses and drinking contaminated ditch water. The refu-

gees are being iiioeeulated against cholera and typhoid when they arrive at Osaka and Kobe.

SURVIVORS’ STORIES. 1 f [Ri'.ctkiis TEi.ncnAiis.j] (Received this clay at 10." Jo a.in.) SHANGHAI, Sept The stories of survivors arriving Irom Yokohama confirm the earlier reports of a. terrible visitation suddenly, with- , out the slightest warning, and with a , tremendous-roar, the ground heaved up , and sank again, the first shock lasting thirty seconds. Foreign business places crumpled like paper houses on tin hililf. and were precipitated into the cite below. Huge crevices opened j„ the ground which rocked and heaved like waves of the sea. Immediately lug fires broke out. and fanned by a strong wind spread rapidly, until the city "as enveloped in a i loak ol llamo anu smoko, which cleared later to reveal a scene of wholesale devastation. survivors give graphic tales of the rash of enormous crowds and the turn ding ' houses along the broken roads, through the spreading llanics and through streams of burning oil. which had e>-sap-ed from exploded oil tanks Ihe whole wav was littered with dead and dying Manv of the weaker ones were crushed to death in the rush to the water front and open spaces Hundreds were drowned in the channels. People leaped into the sea from the water front and waded out in an endeavour to escape from the ram oi i cdhot cinders from the l i un, ) l ' !i among which lay hundreds ot id "« bodies. Members of the British eolmiy were gathered on the jetty tareweUmg the Ea,press of Australia when the mole humped its back, hk• t-'U pillar, several places being tin,tv .i t t i, c air. Then the structure sale ail,!! . S »in ~l *j*«*Js! into the sea. Some people " into the water where they eluii- • floating objects. Others were le t the isolated remnants of the nto <■ 11 When the walls of Negishi prison collapsed five thousand convicts ,u'ie leased. The most desperate ones sox m ing disabled people, Uut Joronod 1 , fi.nunary death : earthquake also tore the ground m the cemetery, exhuming the corpses.

FUP.THUR ACCOUNTS. (“Sydney Sun” Cables). (Received this day at 10.45 *a.m.) OSAKA. Sept. 9. According to the best obtainable information, the forts at the entrance to Tokio Bay and guns were destroyed by the tidal wave. Yokosuka bind defences have gone and the naval lease is wiped out. The reserve stock of oil lias gone. Odawara. a large city. Kozu. a large town, and Oi.-o. a popular seaside resort. of Japanese nobility and wealthy classes, have been destroyed. Warns, a famous hot. sprinkling resort, was badly shaken. Seven hundred lishormen and dairvnieu on Osliima have disappeared with tin- Island. Very minor damage was done in Osaka where one child was killed. Ihe irreat image of Buddha at Kamakura stands alone amidst the burned ruins. The famous Kwaimnn Temple in Asakurn Hark. Tnkio. dedicated to tile Goddess of Mercy, which survived the recent great fire in lokio, again sutvived. almost alone. In A salt usa district, foreigners Yokohama tell many tales of the liern-i.-m of Japanese servants, many ol whom gave their lives in attempts to rescue "the babies of their mistresses. One coolie helped women and children down the sides of a bltilf, saving thirty, until lie fell dead'from the fumes.