DEVASTATING QUAKES

Hokitika Guardian, 24 July 1925, Page 4

DEVASTATING QUAKES

EYE-WITNESS’S ACCOUNTS.

AUCKLAND, July 21. A graphic description ot terrible earthquakes at Santa Uarbara is given by the “Ilerald’.s” correspondent at Vancouver. Writing on July Ist, lie says that Santa- Uarbara, a city of 75.000 residents, lying around a bay MU miles north ot Los Angeles, and 300 miles south of San Francisco, which has a reputation as being a noted tourist resort, and the home of American millionaires, is partially in ruins a- the result of severe earthquake* shocks early on the mornings of June 2Mtli and 30th. The first earthquake swept California. hut its ferocity centred <>n the picturesque 'Pacific .port town. Accompanying the earthquake were tiemendoiis waves which Hooded the low-

lands of the city. Water mains and viv: 1 reservoirs were broken. Iwo lives started in city blocks. The Arlington. a famous hotel, was destroyed. one of its walls collapsing like an eggshell. The main street ol the city upheaved and buckled, and as the water mains parted, geysers shot up through the pavement. Thu first news of the disaster came over a crippled wire. The .Santa Rart.ava exchange ol the i’actlie lelepluilt'’

and Telegraph Company was demolished. as well as the Southern Pacific roundhouse. 1 lie rails, at Naples, 15 mile- away, were thrust out ol alignment. and a railroad station, nine miles distant, was also demolished. Slate street, which was the main business i borough I a re, was practically in i'll'■ 11 s, all the brick buildings being' (lest roved. IN LOS ANGELES. At the same time, sharp cart! qua be chocks were fell at bos Angeles. City buildings swayed considerably, hut the movement was slow and even, and Ibe re was no indications ot damage, bong Beach and San Pedro bad Die -ame experience. At Santa Monica the < locks stopped. The first reports of 11st- earthquake gave the death toli as high as tin, lull this was reduced by later messages, an ottglt hundreds were reported to be injured and missing. Ihe property damage is believed to be about HbOOO,-

(/,!:) dollars .about £2,000.000). The Southern I’ucilie wire, the only one into the town, went out shortly before noon. "The earthquakes are continuing.” tidied the operator at .Naples, near Santa Uarbara, ’There is another one now. Here it conies. And the wire went dead. Streets were undermined at Montccito, six link l ., south of Santa Barbara. EARTHQUAKE WEATHER. Newspaper accounts of the disturbances in the north-west added to tin. alarm of the people. UmnTieial experts had cam ioned the people that following the heat-wave it was " ideal earthquake weather.” Many had accordingly left for the open spaces ol desert- to the cast to pitch camp mil; the heat-wave passed. Olliers left their homes and Hocked to tile pilhlii parks. Buildings well known to millions ol tourists 011 the American ( oiilinenl

were destroyed. These included lit; largest block in the city, the San Marcos building, and the old Santa Bar lull'll Mission, a relic 111 the state: earliest days. The mission hell, installed in 1723, was hurled HMII'L inn the street. Mr Ole I latisoii. a former Mayor o' Seattle, gave the following eye-wit-ness’s ;H counts ot l lie eal'l liqliakv ; 1 !' was about 9.1 I a.in. ’flic air was sal try ami everything was very quiet. I noticed as I lay on my bed that quite a largo wave dashed ilgaitlsL till l each. 'l'lc ground seemed to rise up with a crunch .something like a million dogs crunching a l.otte. I leaped out of bed. and the Hour seemed to ri-c itp a:td hit me I stepped I’gain. and it seemed as though I could not reach the floor. • bike all animal.-., except the horse, in time of trouble. I dashed lor the mien air, ami began to hang mi the neighbouring bungalow's to rouse the occupants and get them out in the open park. Then 1 heard an explosion. | heat'll a rending two blocks awav. 1 saw the walls ol the New Caliloruia Hotel lean over gradually and collapse, leaving the mcupanls lying solely in bed, some covered, and some uncovered. They all escaped. The ground rolled like a canoe struck bv a little wave. There was no excitement. ‘•('rash after crash came from the business district. The man sweeping Hie stieets on the waterfront never quit sweeping. II" shovelled and swept.” TRAPPED IN BUILDINGS. A graphic account of the terror that 'overtook occupants of buildings was Loli I h\ .»lr W. Scott, a I.Os Angeles business man, alter a narrow escape from death in the California Hotel, lie was awakened hv the first shock, he

said, and saw the walls of Ins room shaking. "They swayed sirkeni.ugiy hack and forth with the same motion as is imparted to an accordion when it is being played,” lie continued. " I leap onL of bed and raced downstairs, clad only in my pajamas. In the lobby 1 overtook a man struggling toward the door with a .small child. Just as they reached it the building gave way and debris and wreckage piled upon them. I dived through a window into the street. When I looked hack the hotel was a guant ruin, its outer wall fallen into the street.” When t looked into the street, standing ( it a heap of wreckage on the third lloor I saw a fat man. apparently crazed with fear, .screaming at the top of his voice for a taxicab. Later I found most ot tin* guests of (be hotel huddled in scanty attiie in a vacant lot nearby. They had tied the building as soon as the shocks began. TREK TO THE TULLS.

“Orent gaping wounds in walls showed lorn ami mutilated wall-paper swaying in the early morning breeze. Will's, already tipped over the debrisstrewn streets, jarred loose, and went crashing helow, as subsequent shocks came. There were several moments of quiet as the terror-stricken inhabitants imused to review the scene before them. Panic seized most of them, and gathering what they (.oulti together in blanket bundles and grins, they started the march to the nearby hills. While they weisi doing so the earth still trembled under their feet, adding to their haste and fright. Small children in night clothes and barely able to walk wore pulled behind heavily-burdened mothers and fathers. The only thought the refugees had was to get away from the great terror which had devastated their city. There were a few thousand who stayed behind to aid in the rescue work, but the majority turned their backs on the city and fled to the hills. “After a day of fright and anxiety, the stricken city was again shaken by severe shocks in the night following the first visitation. Beautiful Santa Barbara, sleeping wearily lmt warely among ruins of the first earthquake, was shattered and shaken by a new and devastating earthquake at 1.30 a.m.. and again at f.l*2 a.m.. a jolt of less violence swept the city. A single violent shock, equalling in intensity the original shock, seized and tossed and rattled the city at an hour when the inhabitants and rescue wrokers alike had believed the danger passed. The din as mined walls collapsed further. and new buildings came down, was terrific. “Then followed the cries, and shouts j

and screams of tlio people who liad thought to snatch a brief respite from the terrors of fhe day before. Out from the houses and tents, in which many had taken the precaution to sleep, poured Santa Barbarans to viewfresh destruction. Darkness added increased danger, a.s the bricks and debris, and the picturesque Spanish cornices that were Santa Barbara’s pride, came hurtling down. All possible illumination was turned on the ruins in an effort to determine if the new shocks had added to the death list, which stood at 13 at midnight. At 3 a.m. a check of hospitals and morgues indicated no further deaths. VISITORS ORDERED OUT. Visitors ""ere forbidden to enter Santa Barbara for the first time in the history of the famous tourist resort. Motor eara va us of visitors w ere ordered away early this morning, and thousands of curious sightseers were prevented from glimpsing the ruined city. The visitors on the night following the first shock included a coterie of film “stars” from Hollywood. Most of them had brought their blankets, prepared to sleep nil the hillsides near Santa Barbara until daylight, but the severe second earthquake which jolted the city aL 1.20 sent them scurrying home in their automobiles before the military issued its drastic orders. The Rocky Afotintains shook for a good deal of their length, and many railways and highways were blocked by landslides in the mountains, throe passenger trains were hemmed in by an avalanche near Lombard, Montana. The tunnel of t lie Uliieago-Alilwukee and St. Paul Railroad, near Billings. Montana, collapsed under the weight .of ten avalanches, and traffic was crippled. People became “seasick” in the swaying buildings during all hour's earthquake at Saskatoon. It was the first earth shock in ihe history ol the ■ town.