IN THE TUTAKI

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 23 July 1929, Page 7

IN THE TUTAKI

SOME OF THE EAi'LßlL.m<,£S Amidst the havoc and ruin brought by repeated earthquakes and in spite of warnings to leave, live women, Ijaie remained in Tutaki Valley, in chison district, on the V\ est. Coast, • and are trying to "keep smiling/' .A Wler from one of them has been haiided kto tho Christchurch "Star," and ii u-ifs.;a talc of the terrible conditions th'Ac and . of the indomitable spirit that has buoyed them up. , Tho letter, which is dated Ith Jnlv, . reads:— . , ' "We are. shut in here and. we do nob know when, we will be able to get out. We ar 0 all alive, and well and have not left our home. Forty-nine people, mostly women and children, left here, last Monday week. Tw'o :boys managed- to got to Murchison the day before (Sunday) and as soon as they got there they wcro told that all tho Tutaki.people,had to bo in Murchison by noon en Moncl&v, as they expected a big slip ,to tome down and block the (Jwen, the last means of getting away from Murchison. Ihey said that everyone in Murchison was leaving and that we had to ophio, too. 'lhey gave the boys a letter to bring out, arid the people here held a meeting and decided to We in ajnall parties at 3 o dock on Momlav moaning, it rained heavily all Sunday* night ami was very wet and cold on Monday morning. As we live bv ourselves -.two miles and a.half from Tutaki, not on the telephone. I tojd Bert.to \ take tho ear and , go to the, nearest homestead, which.is about a mile away and ring the people and see- „the.v were going. They said "No." .r:fe.ff, that I would rather, stay ;>.t homo and take the risk than move* out. \r,;i.J /did not want to b 0 the only woman left, to worry tho men if they had to tramp over the hills and find a way out.: ' "Sonic time after a man came ■. and asked if Bert and George had gone to lulaki as they were all going out. He •said that (h c four women up tho road had decided to stay, so I. said that I would stay too. ' ' '■■* ,, "Wo had no means of hearing about anything, being absolutely isolated, and wo are still so. Two or three men -will try to make-their way-over the falling rocks and- slips, but no food can come through. , Bert and some other-men have decided to try and get through towith..our mail. The men have been busy clearing slips off the road nearly ever since the first big earth- ' quake. • Ih e biggest slip came down within a quarter of a mile of our house, and one nearly blotked-tthe river. 'TJie men worked all the first week and :had cleared up most of tho slips when down , came another on the,other side' of ihe house. - -.-.,, "We got in the car and went. for. a rule around Braeburn to see the other slips. The- havoc is simply jawful, r and itis a wonder that, we are still alive.. We arc slil). having some quite-. ■.. big shakes and explosions. Sometime- it seems as if a big cannon is just outside . the door, and we keep hearing'awful bangs. .-,.'. v. ■' "1 did not sleep at all the first- w:eek and my eyes used toi run all day,-<and when I closed them would 'stick., shut. "A number of the men went-all around the valleys and got thfe people out. They had a hard time and used to come back absolutely exhausted WKh. climbing over glides., ' "'■ ' : .\- "After the big 'quake everything-.in. the house was out of place. .; Ip. • the pantry, jam, pickles, aocj/preserves; had all become mixed over the- flbpri and there is scarcely any china left.? unbroken. We had- two •more .big shakes on the Sunday morning. Wehavp had \ three shocks to-ni'ght, but no more! :ex- ' plosions. Some nighta ; we have'.liad thunder, hail, and snow as well .a.s v ex- - plosions and 'quakes. However,-we 'all have, a lot to be thankful'.for and-we do our best to keep smiling. '