Impressions of the Earthquake Area

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 31, 13 February 1931, Page 1

Impressions of the Earthquake Area

Indomitable Pluck and E:ndurance of P eople i in Stricken ‘Towns — By Our ‘Special Representative

RAGEDY, stark and terrible, has swept New Zealand. The . ‘earthquake and fire demons have wrecked the business pori} tions of two of our most prosperous towns, and with appalling loss of life have paralysed the activities of a province. Hundreds are dead, thousands homeless, and : thousands more will carry with them to the grave the tragic memories of the greatest disaster which has ever swept our young nation; But amid all. the tragedy and the pathos there emerges.a story:of epic courage, which should ring down the years as an inspiration.to young New Zealand. : Faced with the loss of all material things, having seen the destruc-. tion of their businesses, the ruin of their homes, and the loss of friends and dear ones, the people -have risen magnificently above the calamity. Nowords can describe and no photographs portray the full story of those fearful days of trial.- yee It is probably true that in New Zealand we had apparently. lost something of: that heroic pioneering spirit so evident. in our. early history when incredible hardships had to be faced, but the happenings of the-past week prove that this spirit was but dormant, and that as a people we are still capable of rising supreme over our greatest catastrophies. ‘After the happenings of the last few days it is difficult: to sit‘down quietly and record the story of selfless devotion which‘ manifested itself in every direction. ‘There have been no

heroics-only a wonderful. spirit of determination to see things through, .and help those less fortunate. At Napier and Hastings food, shelter and companionship were at hand for the taking, and money lost its meaning. One of the queerest experiences when returning from the stricken zone was in seeing how money gradually began to mean something again. In the devastated towns, and in many of the other small towns in Hawke’s Bay, men and women worked day and night providing meals for those men, women and children who were being hurried. away from the horrors of the "quake, and the fact that these unfortunates were penniless mattered not at all, for everything was free. THOSE of us who witnessed the work of relief being carried to the stricken population realised that it was a triumph for disci-

plined action. Those who achieved most were they who had been trained to subordinate their own interests for the common weal, the nurses, doctors, sailors, marines, policemen and firemen, all of whom succeeded most because they were used to discipline. No one group could be looked on as the heroes of the day, for, with the exception of those unmitigated skunks who looted, all were heroes, and by no means the least were the women and the children. (Contd. on page 29.)

Earthquake Area Impressions --- ee (Continued from front page.)

No "scrap the Navy" movement will sueceed in New Zealand during the lives of the present generation, for the efforts of the sailors and marines, their helpfulness, their kind humour ané, above all, their quiet way of "getting the job done," stand out clearly. They were not heroes. They were doing their job, but the way they did it will never be forgotten. So it was with the doctors and the nurses, the Red Cross workers and relief helpers. Without sleep, with meals of the secantiest description, snatehed hurriedly in odd-minute intervals of laborious work, they carried on and did their job. The police, too; were wonderful. There were Napier men who hadn’t had more than an odd hour or two of sleep in four days, who. never let up. They were bombarded day and night by anxious relatives; they worked like Trojans, never relaxed and never overlooked the terrible anxlety of those with whom they had to deal, ‘ The full story of the actual damage done, and the general organisation of relief, has already been told in the daily papers, and though there were exaggerations in detail in places, and over-stressing of certain phases of the relief work, the hurried nature of the work has to be remembered. One point is worthy of mention, though. Certain dailies criticised the organisation of the work in Napier. Had they bent their energies to doing a little more for the unfortunate people in Napier by providing news, they would have done greater service. There were thous-

ands of people in the relief camps who | knew considerably less about. what. had happened and was happening in Napier than did people elsewhere, and the newspapers which thought of sending through some thousands of copies for these unfortunates, were. few and far between. The random impressions which -fo!- — low are not intended as a connected story of the disaster, but’ rather as those ideas which came to mind as one travelled to the scene of the earthquake, saw the actual damage, ‘got to know some of the people who were "earrying on," and watched the development of relief organisation work. We travelled up from Wellington by ‘ear on the most perfect of moonlit nights, and it was difficulf to believe that such tragedy lay ahead, Although it was after midnight when we reached Dannevirke, our car was stopped and we were directed to the hall, in which, subsequently, thousands upon thousands of refugees were given wel@ome meals. Both then, and later, when we returned and saw more of Pannevirke’s organisation,- we admired the thoroughness and the smoothness of their arrangements. Hour after hour, hundreds of people passed north and south, and no car passed -but was stopped and given the invitation for meals either at the Salvation Army. hall, or at another hall, run by a committee of the Dannevirke people. By the time we reached there, the first of the refugees were already pass‘ing south, and the hall was fairly well filled with men, women and children, ‘The whole atmosphere of. the place radiated cheerfulness,. and helpers and helped talked brightly of things other than the ’quake, but. when one looked into the eyes of the refugees, one realised something of the horror of what lay’ ahead. Looking back now, we thank heaven that those

Dannevirke helpers had sufficient good sense to make the earthquake taboo as a subject of conversation. The relief train had not yet started ed leaving Waipukurau when we went north, but the next day when they did, committees were at work there, and the Dannevirke work was repeated there and at other towns as well. Our first glimpses of actual damage wrought by the ’quaké came as we neared Waipukurau, which, though badly shaken, was not greatly damaged. Chimneys were levelled, here and there a telegraph post was leaning drunkenly, and one or two brick dividing walls had given way. The further north we went the worse the damage became. By the time we reached Te Aute day was just beginning to break, and in the hazy light we caught a glimpse of fallen brickwork and damaged roof. Hven then, though, it was difficult to realise that this peaceful countryside had been broken, and that wholesale destruction lay ahead, One momentary glance at Hastings was enough to show us that the reports of terrific destruction were not at all exaggerated, but later, when we reached Napier, we realised that Hastings had been. fortunate in escaping the fire demon which added so fearfully to the havoe at Napier, PHOTOGRAPHS of practically every portion of the two damaged towns have appeared already, but even these cannot convey an adequate impression of the horror which fell so suddenly and devastatingly upon the Napier and Hastings people. In two minutes which were an eternity to those actually there two prosperous towns were laid into heaps of ruins more complete than those of towns which had suffered heavy bombardment. It was like a glimpse of war with the added -- a

frightfulhess of war upon the women and children of a civilian: population. The whole of the business area in Napier had been swept to ruins, and matters made worse by the terrific fire which followed, and which completed the gruesome work of destruction. By the time we arrived rescue work had been in full swing for some time, hundreds had passed through the dressing stations and on to temporary hospitals, and ruins were being searched in the hope that others would. be brought out alive. The residential portion of the town had not suffered to nearly the same extent, but practically all chimneys were down, most houses were damaged to a greater or lesser extent, and the ubiquitous

marines had found injured in many houses and transferred them to relief camps or hospitals, EFORE the fire which followed the ‘quake had got much of a hold, committees had been organised to gather food from the shops and transfer it to a central depot, and this, together with food sent from the Veronica, comprised the nucleus of the store that later was used to feed the thousands passing through the relief eamps. At Nelson Park there was ample accommodation in tents, plenty of bedding, and a band of workers organised by the Red Cross, who worked day and night at fever heat to feed the people. * The scenes at the camps were as pathetic as those in the town were aweinspiring. Naturally enough, with families arriving from all parts of town and country there was confusion, and children became separated from their parents, or families lost touch with one another.. The heartrending feature of these camps though, was the ceaseless search being made for missing relatives. Wherever we went round the grounds we saw anxious, care-worn people patiently trudging round the long lines of tents in the hope of finding a missing friend or relation. In the confusion which naturally existed at the start, when the one thought was the rapid evacuation of the wo:..en and children, many were rushed away without proper checking of names, and it will probably be some weeks before

everything is straightened out, and relatives put in touch with each other again, On Wednesday hundreds-probably thousands-of cars arrived from all over the North Island, being sent by various automobile associations to assist in evacuation. By Thursday a smoothly-working organisation was dealing with evacuation, and cars were leaving every minute for the various places that were taking charge of the refugees. Never before has the main south road carried so much traffic, for as fast as the cars left Napier filled, their places were taken by others arriving empty. Nothing like the scenes at Nelson Park can ever have been witnessed in New Zealand before, and the way in which the multitude was kept fed- was marvellous. The food organisation was solid throughout, and at no time was there anyone wanting food and unable to obtain it. What that means can best be gauged by remembering that shops had all gone, and that, in addition to Napier residents, hundreds flocked in from the countryside, fearing further disaster. "TERRIBLE as were the scenes in the devastated business area, where the destruction of life and property had been so heavy, there was one which was sadder still-the wreck of the nurses’ home at the public hospital. The big building collapsed like a pack of cards, the heap of ruins being reminiscent of the very worst pictures of the great Japanese earthquake, and some of the sleeping nurses were buried, No one could see those tons of wreckage without being profoundly moved. If any one thing could bring home the full depths of sorrow and tragedy that have been plumbed in the devastated area, it is that silent heap of wreckage and the story it tells. The remaining nurses had to carry on within sight of that gruesome pile of ruin, and the fact that they did so speaks volumes for their courage. Wherever, we went among the nurses in the various camps, dressing stations, and temporary hospitals, we found them working for dear life. Their eyes told the story of nights without sleep and days without rest. They were liv.ing on their wonderful spirit-"carry-ing on," and they did it magnificently. The courthouse was turned into a morgue, and many a silent drama was enacted within those four walls. Unidentified badies were taken there and full description given as to where they were found. We heard of many cases of hope being turned to despair when it became only too clear that some relative had not been able to escape, although, as always hope had remained till the grim ruins yielded up their dead. Then, too, there was the other side of the drama, and the police were able to tell us of cases where people had come feeling certain that some of their loved ones were among the dead, but went away rejoicing when they learnt that the police knew of them, that they were safe and well, and had left the town in the relief cars. There were miraculous escapeshundreds of them; in fact, when we had seen the full extent of the holocaust our wonder was not that the deathroll had been so large, but that it had been so small, in proportion to the extent of the disaster. In many cases people in buildings had the awesome experience of having those buildings actually shaken away from under their feet, and yet found themselves dazed, but absolutely, unhurt when the

‘who was on the second story of brick building near the Cathedral, wh saw the Cathedral crash while his own building was swaying sickeningly. The walls of his own building gave way and crashed outward, and in some way -he knows not how-he was precipi-: tated into the street with nothing more than light bruises. There were many stories ‘of wonderful escapes, some true,-some exaggerated in the passing-on of the story, but theré was one for which we can vouch, which, if read in fiction,. would be laughed to scorn, Mr, Husheer, senr., managing. director of the National ‘Tobacco Co., was ill in bed in a fourstoried concrete private hospital on the Marine Parade. His own son had the fearful experience of seeing the side ri *quake was over. We spoke to one his father’s room torn out and bodily to earth, and his father lying stairs in the wrecked room, unable to be reached. The prisoners had been released from Napier gaol when the *quake came, and three of them volunteered to go up and get Mr. Husheer. Taking a‘rope, they climbed perilously up water-pipes and succeeded in reaching the room, and lowered Mr. Husheer to the ground. The fact that the National Tobacco Co. was one of the first to plan the re-starting of operations is but another instance of the indomitable spirit that has been evident in Napier and Hastings. "At Port Ahuriri. port AHURIRI suffered just as badly as Napier, and twisted wharves and gaping roads tell the story of the earthquake demon there. The buildings there were all smaller than’ those of Napier, and many being wooden did not suffer. Where bricks and mortar had been used it was the same old story of piled up ruins. Lighters had been taking wool out to liners in the roadstead at the time the ’quake occurred, and it was like visiting a longdead city to see the bales in the various stages between wool-store and lighter. Just how much water is left at the Port will not be known for some time yet, but it certainly looks as if not the least serious part of the whole disaster will be the loss of harbour facilities. Much of the land there is reclaimed ground, and here the earthquake had certainly played havoc, huge cracks appearing in the roads, approaches to bridges being rocked away, and more actual damage to roads done than anywhere else. Fires had done work of destructi there, too, and we saw firemen asle on the running-boards of the fireengines, having .dropped there from sheer exhaustion after being almost

continuously in action. for days. They, like everyone else in Napier, were living on their store of. nervous energy, and we had only to look at any of the Napler men-to see that: long hours of incessant hard work -and sleepless nights were taking their toll. Position at Hastings. At™ the time of writing the official list for Hastings is greater than that of: Napier, but* we think it improbable that it wili finally prove sa, as there are undoubtedly many bodies yet to be recovered from the wreckage at Napier. In some respects: the destruction wrought by the ’quake was greater than in Napier, but the fires were quickly suppressed, the water supply remaining intact here, but. beigh ue out.of action at Napier. The rims of the Grand Hotel and of Roach’s are as awful as any to be seen at Napier, and there are plenty of other places just as completely wrecked, Many of the business places escaped fairly lightly though and the town as a whole is far more intact than is Napier. Hastings got its clear-ing-up work in hand more ‘quickly than Napier, but the latter place was hampered by the terrible fire which followed the ‘quake, and which further demoraliséd the town.’ It is-certain of course that more hodies will be recovered in Hastings, and probably many of. the buildings that are-still standing, and which look solid enough, will have to be pulled down and rebuilt. As both towns are so badly wrecked the old question as to whether two towns are required for the district is bound to be reopened-especially* if Napier is no. tonger to bea port — ~-

Indomitable Spirit of People. STANDING clear above all else in this terrible disaster is the triumph of the spirit over the flesh, and the practical sympathy shown not..only in the devastated areas, but throughout the whole Dominion. There.seems to. be little of humour in occurrences such as have been described, but.many. a good joke is retailed by people in both Napier and Hastings, One man whom we met near the gasworks had a: whole fund of humorous incidents, and he had been working for three days with hardly any sleep. In the very high prick building where the gas-is generated, a very large hole has been ‘torn in the brickwork, and he told us that it reminded him for all the world of Bairnsfather’s famous war, -cartoon where the raw recruit asked: the seasoned old soldier what caused a huge shell hole in a brick wall, and: the old hand replied "Mice." Hven- some of the retreats made from the- buildings during the actual ’quake were-not without their humorous aspect, and it is those who were-and still are-in the thickest of it, who get the most amusement out.of the stories. PA When we left Napier on Friday it was: like a city of the dead. Thousands had been evacuated, and the relief cars were still going southwards ‘in. : large numbers. It was impossible to-say..how many were left in the town, -but .on the hills most of the houses: were empty, and where people had. elected to remain they were. sleeping out in tents. All those remaining are hard at work, and the ‘quakes at night, though lessening in severity, do not make conditions easier. Thrown suddenly from plenty, to absolute ruin nearly everyone has responded magni-

ficently and it is amazing to think that the human body can stand the work--and lack of sleep-to which so many have subjected it during the last week. The marines, with their absolute thoroughness and their ability to adapt themselves to any work from demolishing ruins with tractors, to acting as traffic constables, have. won the. wholehearted admiration of everyone who has seen them. The nurses, doctors and Red Cross relief workers have carried on through the whole trying time, with only the briefest intervals of rest, and the police and firemen have never let up a minute. At Hastings the Maoris turned up trumps in every way and a gang of cheerful .Maori workers has been going strong night and day on the work of clearing up. We are still too close to the actual catastrophe to see clearly ahead, and know exactly how the work of rebuilding can be carried out and where, the money.is to come from, ‘but we who have lived with Napier people this last week know that the same courage that has already been shown will succeed in. removing the mountains of ruins and starting off afresh. We have. been: face::to face with realities and the nonsense and futility of many of the things to which we cling have been exposed. The disaster has brought us all closer together, has called. forth our.best qualities of initiative pluck and endurance, and has shown that in hard work and comra(eship lie our salvation. The future is beset with difficulties, but bad as they may be, the facing of them is as noth; ing to-what'has already been met. The people in the devastated areas. have lost all. It is up to the rest of us to exhibit plenty of the community spirit that shone out brightly through the whole disaster, and help practically’ in every possible way.