Mt. Sakarushima.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 14, 16 January 1914, Page 5

Mt. Sakarushima.

RIVALLING MT. VESUVIUS.

ALTERED FACE OF NATURE APPALLING EXPERIENCES.

THE WORK OF RESCUE.

,03 y Electric Telegraph—Copyright]

lOMijui I'ltKBM Association. '

Tokio, January 15

j The means available for rescue work at Sakurashima are altogether inadequate. Crowds of fugitives on the beach are being overtaken by the lire and lava, though the launches have piled heroically amid a hail of boulders' and stones.

One Ship, with 307 Refugees, Sank

during the second eruption. Many others were drowned in trying to swim the Straits.

i Times—Sydney Sun Special Cables. All the villages round Sakurashima have been destroyed, The volcano is | .emitting smoke three miles 'high, and J ashes are falling here, 600 miles away. The mainland, for several miles from Sakura has been totally destroyed by fire and flood. Sakurashima is shrouded in blac smoke, broken occasionally by the flicker of flames. The Bay is Covered with Lava. There ai'e no refugees from three of the villages near Sakurashima. Some of the fugitives lost their way in the thick smoke, and were sulfocated by the poisonous gases, while others, terror-stricken by the fire, rushed into the sea and were drowned.

The earthquakes are now subsiding, but appalling rumblings continue.

A Typhoon is Blowing.

Six hundred houses at Kagoshima collapsed after one violent shock on Monday. The shaking of the earth was so great that it was impossible to walk upright, so;.that the fugitives had to crawl or tumble out of the city mainly on their hands and knees. VOLCANO VOMITING FIRE. ANOTHER TIDAL WAVE. I s. S [United Press Association.) . Tokio, January 15. The west side "of the volcano blew out last night, vomiting fire furious-

it was followed by another tidal wave. The sea is in a boiling condition.

Earthquakes continue, and destruction is everywhere. Horrible scenes are enacted. Thii> teen thousand houses have been destroyed. Seventy thousand people are missing. CITY BURIED UNDER ASHES. INHABITANTS IN AN INFERNO. (Received 8.45 a.m.) • Tokio, January 15. The second cruiser squadron has arrived at Kogoshima. For miles the aspect of Nature had been completely altered. Kogoshima was found buried under fifteen feet of. ashes. • ,

A refugee from that city states that the rumblings began on 10th inst. The noises wore so hideous that nobody slept. ■ All. prepared food and packed 'it for emergencies. On the'l2th the women and children were, sent .away. Then Sakurashima Erupted. The mountain was rent for one third of its height and fire and smoke belched thousands of feet into the air.

Three other rents appeared, and redhot rocks' were ejected, and ' fierce flames swept the whole island. Refugees in dozens clung to the gunwales of overloaded boats.

Kogoshima Resembled a Battlefield. The buildings were shattered in every direction by the. incessant ''ail of volcanic matter. «-

Relief trains were despatched the refugees clinging to the outside of. the cars like flies.

[Of the fifty-four volcanoes recognised as now active or only recently extinst in Japan, the best known is the graceful cone of the sacred mouiir tain of Fusi-yama, but others less pretentious are far more dangerous. Sakurashima, in Kagosbima Bay, 3743 feet high, is an island volcano, with several parasitic cones, now extinct, on the north and east sides. At the summit arc two deep craters, the southern of which emits steam. Grass grows, however, to the very edges of the crator. The island is celebrated for thermal springs, oranges, and daikon (radishes), which sometimes grow to a weight of 701 b. ]

RELIEF FUNDS IN SYDNEY.

(Received 11.30 a.m.) Svdnev, January 16

The Telegraph has opened a subscription list to assist sufferers through the Japanese disaster. The Lord Mayor has also opened a fund.