JAPANESE DISASTER.

Hokitika Guardian, 11 September 1923, Page 3

JAPANESE DISASTER.

CHOKED WITH DEAD. AUSTRALIAN AND N.Z. CAULK ASSOCIATION. (Received, this day at 9.45 a.in.) 'SHANGHAI, Hept. 10. In interviews, refugees from Osaka state no ’dcscruptiibi could do justice to the awful experiences in Yokohama where the casualties allegedly number eighty per cent of the population. Hardly a wall is leli- .-landing. The place is literally choked with dead and debris. An American .-aid after the lirst shock, the place was Hat. and when the fire started it was Hell let lose. We rushed to the sc a to escape burning, and leinained hours there, up to the neck ill the water. Gmi knows what thousands of poor devils suffered who weie maimed, or pinned under the tumbled buildings. Amongst the remarkable escapes was that of a foreign woman, having a bath in the second story ol a house that collapsed, except the hathro-un, enabling her to get out of a window unclothed. A passing Japanese gave her »■ kimono. Refugees agree - ' that thirty seconds alter the first shock, Yokohama was levelled Hat. A TRAGIC STORY. [ R KUT KltS Tei.BG RAMS.] (Received I his day at 9.45 a.m.) SHANGHAI, Sept to. I Louis Jedeikin. a Yokohama jewellery agent, tells of the closing his shop in the centre of the foreign settlement. When the shock came, he and a nnin—hr of other foreigners were thrown to the ground. When they rose they saw the houses levelled, and walked with thousands of others over the collapsed roofs seeking relatives. They saw hundreds of persons pinned under the debris, those still alive screaming with agony. Arms and legs were protruding from the debris. Many worked bard in attempts to release families imprisoned in the ruins. As the lire spread, thousands rushed into the sea to escape the awful heat. Amongst them lie noticed Edwards, in the employ of the Hong Kong-Siianghai bank. His band was cut oil, tile stump bleeding profusely. Many foreigners were wildly searching for their wives, who had been out shopping. He noticed a prominent merchant, George Koinor. standing near the wreck of his house, waist deep in debris, shouting that In* would give ten ‘thousand yen to anyone who got out his wife, pointing towards a woman’s head sticking out Ironi a pile of debris. The lire was then .sweeping forward, and before any help could he oiveiii it caught the ruins of the house and the woman was consumed in a living grave, belore the eves ol hei husband. After a vain search for his own wife. Jederkin made his way to the sea front, and got aboard the steamer Empress of Australia. He had given up all hope of his wife, when he was jovouslv surprised to see her come aboard with a boat load of refugees. She was shopping when tho premises t o - lapsed, but she escaped injury and took refuge in the Park till able to make her way to tho sea front.