THE STRICKEN DISTRICT

Hokitika Guardian, 5 February 1931, Page 3

THE STRICKEN DISTRICT

A JOURNEY OF INSPECTION PRESSMAN’S AWFUL STORY. OF DESTRUCTION AND DESOLATION. DANNEVIR.KE, February 4. A representative of the “Evening News’ motored through to Napier yesterday afternoon, with the object of gathering authentic details of the extent ol the catastrophe. Ilu scene along the route beggars description and culminates with terrific poignancy at Hastings and Napier. \he first evidence of the full force ol the earthquake was met at Sanatorium Hill leading down to Waipukurau, where deep cracks in the load necessitated care in driving. A succession of houses without chimneys, created fears lor the worst approaching Waipukurau, but the damage in that town in particular was not apparent. The Municipal Theatre had a badly bent wall, but this is the worst feature.

Waipawa fared much worse. A collection ol badly damaged shop fronts and an extensive concrete parapet lay along the road side in front of broken shops. Broken glass was everywhere and goods were exposed on dented shop shelves.

Te Ante College; showed irreparable damage. The roofs of modern brick buildings had shrunk between the walls. The College buildings were standing but stability was wholly weak ened. Jn strange contrast to the weak, ened brick structures, the old wooden college church stood •unscathed, with the spire erect. Looking down on the devastation past Te Ante, the first effect of the earthquake on the railway line was seen

At a bend in the line, the rails were twisted and represented an uncanny appearance.

Hardly a chimney was standing between Wnipuknrau and Napier. Repair work in private residences alone, is a mammoth undertaking. Bortlnvicks freezing works at Pakipaki were levelled to the ground and four men lost their lives. The disaster at these fine works is an enormous one, in its self, hilt is only a tragic prelude of what was to follow.

The Tomonna and Whakatu works are still standing. The road to Stortford Lodge took on a very ugly appearance. In places it had subsided, while in others it rose in swollen mounds. Water was oozing through at certain patches and care had to be taken in motoring. Stortford Lodge presented a melon-

choly sight. Its buildings were twisted out of recognition. The whole front of the hotel appeared to have been

ripped down. Hastings was reached to find the whole business centre in ruins. Neat shops that presented an. attractive appearance when opened for business in the morning, lay broken in pieces. No progress could he made and the eye could only he swept over a scene of ruin. The devastated streets were patrolled and all efforts were concentrated on saving life. Gangs of men were delving in the debris, applying all human strength to the work of rescue. Here and there a mutilated body was recovered. It was reported that another man, embedded in a fallen shop, was able to talk to his rescuers, who had been working for hours to save him. The main tragedy occurred at Roache’s drapery establishment, where nine girls were stated to he entombed.

Estimates of the dead, however, can only he a matter of guess work. Quite a number of people were missing. Well known buildings in Hastings were completely defaced. The Grand Hotel was reduced to the hare walls, that may crash at any moment. The Post Office was badly disfigured but these are only monuments of the disaster in a scene of complete wreckage. The earthquake has played some strange tricks. Some buildings completely withstood the shock. A set of flats built in ferro-concrete on the edge of the devastated area show no signs of exterior damage. The extensive premises of Hawkes Bay Farmers near the railway station, also stand wonderfully intact, without even a crack in the large plate glass windows.

The road between Hastings and Napier has some ugly patches and in places has subsided. A red glare made the approach to the town ominous, and one felt that anything worse than Hastings would be appalling. If anything. Napier was worse. Fire had played havoc with the attractive seaside resort. Away along the Marine Parade from White Road was lined with broken houses. Stricken families were accommodating themselves with rugs on the beach, fearful of what the night had in store. The scene was pathetic in the extreme. Nothing remains of the fine Masonic Hotel that looked over the Parade, beyond a smouldering mass of ruins. The Courthouse stands and so does Dr Moore’s private hospital, but its frontage leans perilously over on to the Parade, while the side has been twisted in another direction.

It is the business centre of the town, | however, that has mainly suffered de[vostation. It has been laid in ruins. t Hastings Street has been levelled from

the old Post Office to the now. Every hank in the town lias gone and Lite only hope of salvage in that the strung rooms may have remained intact under the mass of debris.

All tlie business premises arc- dust and ashes. The fire appears to have swept through what the earthquake left.

'Jenny.son' Street suffered equally with the main business thoroughfare. The two fine newspaper offices, the “Hawkes Bay Herald” and the “Daily Telegraph,” were wiped out in the holocaust and their modern equipment is also much wrecked machinery. Messrs Sainsbury Logan and Williams, legul premises lie amidst the Wreckage. The Municipal Theatre one of the finest provincial buildings of its kind in the Dominion went down in a mass of flame, followed by the new St. Paul’s

Presbyterian Church, the rear of which was just approaching completion. '1 he Napier Cathedral has had its beauty ruined beyond repair. Port Ahuriri was the centre of flame and lias been almost completely wrecked.

The National Tobacco Coy’s. fine brick premises are no more. Messrs Dalgetys whole 4 ore remains intact, but it is about the only one. Messrs ,Williams and Klettle lost their store, as Well as their offices in anvil. Blazing benzine gushed from Oil Coy’s stores. Napier, like Hastings, lias yet to take its sad toll. Two outstanding irageuies are the collapse of the roof at the Technical School oil the scholars and the crumbling of the nurses home and the Jellicoe ward at the public hospital. Tile collapse of the roof the Technical School trapped the children. A number of them made a miraculous escape but many are dead. Two teachers are believed to be entombed.

The nurses home collapsed while those members of the staff on night duty were asleep, 'they were summarily awakened and some made their escape. Others lie tinder the fallen bricks and mortar.

The finely equipped Jellicoe ward crumbled like a pack of cards and

is believed to have enclosed the victims. The nurses behaved with great heroism and dashed into the locking buildings to rescue the patients and it is feared that in their noble efforts some of them were trapped. Grandstands on the Napier Park racecourse and at McLean Dark were improvised as { temporary hospitals and the patients were tralistened to them. Unfortunately in the complete disorganisation, all the sufferers were not located, ail'd some of the injured escaped attention. Fresh eases were constantly found throughout the day. and night and assistance was rendered. Nothing could have been finer than the calm and collected behaviour of the distressed people. The tragic events of the day were discussed dispassionately. 'Hie blow was of so appalling a magnitude that it. left no room for speculation on the future. Many householders were faced with stark ruin, but the immediate question as dusk gathered over the desolated scene, was how best to share the food supply. Water in many places was unprocurable and the whole town appeared forced back on primitive resources.