EXAGGERATED

Hokitika Guardian, 18 July 1929, Page 2

EXAGGERATED

WHAT AMERICANS WERE TOLD. NEWS OF EARTHQUAKE. “MYSTERY SURROUNDS FATE OF 2000 PEOPLE.” 'AUCKLAND, July 16. 1 The following “news” of the earthquake in New Zealand has been received by mail from the United States having appeared in the “New York Times.” : “LONDON, June 18. “Mystery surrounds the fate of 2000 inhabitants of Lyell, in the north part of the South Island of New Zealand, who have been unheard of since an earthquake devastated the island yesterday. Motor coaches which are known to have left the town on that day have never arrived at their destinations. Situated between Westport and Murchison, Lyell received the brunt of New Zealand’s greatest seismic eruption since 1855. Nor has the horror yet abated. Late to-night reports of further tremors and continuous explosions were still being received. ’

“Westport itself, the nearest big to^n : to ; Lyell, has been practically razed. In a vain effort to learn the fate of the thousands trapped im this territory, airplanes circled over Westport and neighbouring villages today. They brought back no statements from the inhabitants, for there was scarcely a building left standing, and the total number of dead is unknown.

“Murchison, the next town visited, was not only equally deserted, but even its remains are in imminent dinger. df being obliterated by the rising waters of the Buller River. There is a mountain gorge behind the town, and this tremendous weight. of water is now poised for a wild sweep down to underlying country. Only a mass of earth thrown up by the earthquake holds back the water and it is reported that this loose, though mountainous, mass cannot long resist the increasing pressure. The inhabitants of Murchison Boid they had ~ passed a ;‘night : of hell,’, after finally reaching positions of; greater -safety 'by . niotbij coaches -and : special trains.> as to how it all happened are vague, .but one thing-these horror-stricken women and children] '.agree on—their jhopiq; town looks Hike; a; gigantic scrap heap, tMI ‘ of 4 ‘Kills ! ’flattened ■ out before: them, seeming tp slide away almost half a mile.’ ;‘‘Between these ( i deserted villages, whose ; fate is sadly ; enough , known, lies Lyell, whose fate is unknown. Thousands are gathered at all working telegraph stations awaiting word of their friends and relatives missing in this town, which was the centre of the ’quake, and meanwhile ’planes, the only means of communication, are bringing back only descriptions and no personal messages.”