Milford chronicle., 1926-12-10
DESCRIPTIVE EXPERIENCE
BY AN AMERICAN IN
GREAT EARTHQUAKE


Miss Matte B. Johnson, or Burling-
ton, Iowa, who is the Near-East Re-
liefs orphanage director at Lenina-
kan. Armenia. She writes:
Il was just having my coffee at
the end of late dinner when with
out warning there came a terrible
roar. The house trembled and
shook, the chandelier waved back
and forth, and the roof made a
noise as of a thousand cracking
timbers. Within three minutes the
second shock came, but 1 was al
ready out of the house and shout
ing orders for the evacuation of
twenty Orphanage buildings up and
down the long street in front. So
did not get the full force of the
second shock, which came with a
terrible noise like a train whistle.
The children were already stream
ing out of dormitories, hundreds
and thousands of them, suddenly
aroused from sleep and clad in the
U. S. Army blankets which they
wrapped shawl-like around their
heads and bodies.
They were panicky, of course,
but just to see an American calmed
them, for to them an American is
a guarantee of protection from any
and all evil.
"It seemed likely that more
shocks would come, so we marshall
ed all our 5000 children in the
fields, bringing out mattresses and
bedding for them. Meanwhile all the
Americans went through the broken
buildings, extinguishing the kero-
sene lamps and taking every possi-
BILE precautiOn against fire. was
in the No. 8 dormitory at IL
o'clock when the next shock came,
much worse than the earlier ones.
The floor was like an ocean wave
under my feet and the walls were
staving in on both sides Of me.
There was a fearful crash as five
tall chimneys fell through the roof.
The front door was open and 1
lurched and swayed through it.
Again we went through the long
lines of children, calming them.
Our efforts were considerably handi-
capped by the fact that almost ev-
cry sentence would be punctuated
by slight tremor. 1t was not easy
to be calm and cool, as realized
that 1 was responsible for the lives
of 5000 children.
"It was bright moonlight night,
the first night after the full moon.
AS the earth began to quiet down,
1 made another round of all the
buildings with a lantern. On the
upper floor of the Kindergarten or
phanage, I found one little tot still
in bed. She had slept through ev-
erything, even the collapse of the
Orphanage roof over her head. Beds
on both sides of her were filled
with debris and fallen stones, but
she was unharmed.
"As morning came, we took a roll
call, and found that not a child
was missing or even injured be-
yond a few scratches or bruises.
All the twenty Americans were safe
although the two houses in which
they lived were demolished beyond
repair.
"For the first night the Ameri-
cans camped in the alfalfa patch,
with regular patrols going the
rounds of several acres of children
in the wheat fields alongside. At
daybreak we dug all our available
tents out of the warehouses, and
erected them where they could be
used by the doctors and nurses.
Within an hour after the big shock,
casualties began to flow into the
hospital from the towns and viii
lagos. Doctors and nurses worked
continuously for "a hours without
rest or sleep, there being many
amputations and operations. The
city hospital at Leninakan was
completely demolished and all it's
patients brought to the American
camp, where we are putting them
in tents as rapidly as possible.
"Daybreak brought government
inspectors with news of IL villages
destroyed and Is others partly in
ruins. Our staff of doctors and
nurses was subdivded in order to
send mobile units out to establish
casualty clearing stations in the
villages. Our kitchens were reor-
ganized to provide for feeding the
children out of doors. Two of our
dining halls are just twisted masses
of iron and timbers. In several of
the dormitories all the beds are
covered with stones and debris. The
hospital and nurses training school
are safe, and can be re-Occupied as
soon as minor repairs have been
made.
During the morning of the next
day we assembled all the children
for chapel on the parade ground,
and held a Thanksgiving service.
We have a great deal to be thankful
for, even though the great campus
looks like a battle ground"
Miss JohnsOn's letter was mailed
on the evening of October oath.
After that date, according to the
cabled reports received by the Near
East Relief, the shocks continued
for two weeks, with an average Of
five tremors a day although only
two of the latter shocks were OF
major violence. The tremors were
decreasing in severity
when the latest advices were re-
ceived this week.
The Near East Relief has issued
an appeal for special gifts of $780,
900 to meet the earthquake emer-
gency. This amount is the esti-
mated sum needed for repair of the
American buildings and other inn
mediate necessities, and is in adj
dition to the regular budget Of
100000 now being raised for the