Douglas daily dispatch., 1927-03-10
JAPAN TAKES
TOLL Of Loss
|NEARTHQlJAKE
Tokyo Newspapers Indicate
That Dead Will Number
Over 5000.
HOMELESS
$4,000 to $4,000 Driven from
Homes Is Estimate Of
One Paper.

TOKYO, March 9 R)-Thousands
Of refugees in central Japan, shiv-
ering, hungry, and in sore need of
medical aid tonight were struggling
to bring order out of the chaos
created Monday night by the earth
quake which already is known to
have taken toll of more than 1000
lives.
The home office this afternoon.
stated that it's latest advices showed
that 2,275 persons were killed and
9,441 injured. Information received
: by Tokyo newspapers, however, in
/ dicated that the dead IN the entire
earthquake region would number.
more than 1900, while one news
paper estimated that the toll would
mount to five thousand, with from
10000 to $4,000 homeless.
The correspondent for the Tokyo
Asah Shinbun who Travelled through
the stricken area reported from
Miyazu that the scenes in Miney-
anna, where more than 1000 per-
sons were killed and Amino, were
heartrending. Refugees, he said.
We're exposed to snow and rain
while only small amount of relief
was available. Many relatives of
victims of. the quake spent the day
digging in the ruins of devastated
villages seeking the bodies of faith.
ers, mothers, sons and daughters
Funeral pyres were built and bodies
cremated. Other inhabitants of the
towns worked with police and SOL
diers in extricating bodies and CIV
ing aid to the injured Shallow
graves were dug in the snow COW
cred ground, even small children
assisting in the burial rites Bits of
half burned sticks, raked from the
debris were used as incense sticks
for the offering of prayers before
burial. Japanese and Christian
preachers and priests We're every
where aiding and comforting widows
and orphans.
The newspaper correspondents gen.
orally reported that the lack of
medical supplies and food was the
greatest hardship for the refugees.
Injured men and women along the
broken roads asked every passerby if
he We're doctor, so great was their
need for medical attendance. Doc
tors and Red Cross nurses were
coming into the region rapidly today
and it was expected that they soon
Will be able to ameliorate the sit,
uation.
The roads throughout the region
were reported literally lined with
the bodies of Victims unclaimed by
relatives or friends.
The Tango region, which suffered
most severely, was described by one
\.
of central Japan. Hundreds of sur
vivors were finding scant shelter
from a heavy downpour of sold rain
which has been falling since last
night. Many of the refugees were
forced to sleep on the snow covered
ground, soaked to the. skin and i'll
constant fear of further shocks. To
add to the misery of the inhabitants
along the banks of the Tatsuta and
Maruyama rivers, the streams rose
over their banks, washing away
houses and rendering relief work
almost impossible. Numerous young
factory girls We're reported to have
been crushed or burned to death in
buildings in the town of Amino, and
surviving members of their families
today dug in the ruins in the hope
of recovering the bodies.
A second shock was felt in the
district last night but did compare
lively little damage. 1t added to
the general misery, however, by
heightening the terror of the in
habitants.
The Kyoto Prefectural police and
medical associations today worked
steadily at bringing relief to the
stricken district. The emperor has
donated fifty thousand yen to relieve
the region, while the school children
of Tokyo are planning to contribute
one sen each toward a fund being
raised for the sufferers
Although no estimate of the ma
terial damage caused by the quake
has been made public thus far some
Observers believe that the loss will
be at least $5O,OOO,OOO ana perhaps
$75,OOOOOO.