300 LIVES LOST

Hokitika Guardian, 4 March 1933, Page 5

300 LIVES LOST

BIG EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE AND DEATHS IN JAPAN. (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright; TOKIO, March 3.

The centre of the earthquake was 265 miles north of Fukushima. The Miyagi and Iwatg prefectures were those .chiefly affected. Except for , a few missionaries, no foreigners reside in that area. The severest damage was at ICamaishi, a town where 800 houses are do.wn.

Fir e s broke out, followed by a tidal wave, which demolished thre e hundred Liomcs and wrecked the coastwise shipping. Communications ai’e interrupted.

The casualties are unknown. The lights failed at Yokohama, but otherwise the city wcs undamaged. The earthquake began at 2.30 o’clock in the morning in the Northern Prefectures, and in Kwanto. It was felt as fa r south aS' Osaka.

Som e reports place the Iwate damage at on e thousand houses destroyed. It 'is officially estimated that the earthquake victims at the minimum number three hundred dead, while two hundred as missing, Thousands of 'houses have been destroyed. The most .damage js in northern Honshiu, th e quak e there causing serious fires.

A huge tidal wave engulfed 1500 houses Kamaipjhi, A further thousand houses were destroyed by fire. DEATH ROLL REACHES 550. HEAVY DAMAGE TO BUILDINGS. (Received this day at 9.30 a.m.) KOBE, March 3. The latest figures state that 556 were killed, 135 injured, 250 missing. Over 1500 houses have been washed away while 450 were burned and. 1849 collapsed. DEATH ROLL STILL MOUNTING. (Received this day at 9 a.m.) TOKIO, March 3. The latest official report is: 591 dead, 590 missing, and over eight thousand houses destroyed.

HUGE WAVE; SWEEP INLAND. DESTITUTION OF SUFFERERS. (Received March 4 at 9.55 a.m.) TOKIO, March 3. The whole north-easi!:, of the main island was shaken, and the coast line for three hundred miles was affected. Many victims, wore killed in' their hods. Numerous inhabitants of Kam■ftisihit, an tipi pitting the wave, were saved by fleeing to the hills.

A waive forty feet in height swept the coast rushing far inland, spreading desolation. The village of Funakoshi we.l3 wiped out and the famous Gib:shirs beach devastated. The sufferers are mainly fisherfolk, the poverty of the inhabitants making relief difficult. Large numbers of fishing boats were presumably overwhelmed, as it was impossible to ride out the seas.

The horrors cif fire and flood and prolonged quakes in the darkness were combined, survivors rushing wildly for safety.