Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-04-02
MANAGUA DEATHS
REACH 5000 TOTAL
Troops Kept Busy Excavat-
ing Bodies From Ruins as
Tremors Continue.
Continued From First Page)

fatal. Some, too old to undergo neces-
sary operations, amputationS, and the
like, are almost certain to de of their
injuries.
The patients are Of all races and
both sexes. Some have broken legs and
arms, some fractured skulls and others
are greatly handicapped by lack of OPP
Grating rooms and are doing their work
in tents.
Lieut.. Comdr. Hatfield, during the
night organized corps of doctors and
surgeons for vaccinations against
typhoid. A blanket vaccination order
has been issued covering all resi-
dents of the city who cannot show
proper previous incubation.
Supplies by Airplane.
Seven physicians have been assigned
to the work and it is believed that
10000 persons, willing or no, will be
vaccinated. There are sufficient sup
plies on hand for the first hours of the
work and others are expected by air.
plane from Panama.
A water supply today still was the
city's most serious immediate problem,
which may be solved by bringing in
pumping machinery from Granada.
There probably will be enough food
for the emergency period, with addi-
tional supplies arriving by plane and
the U. S. S. Rochester, which is coming
to Corinto from Balboa.
Supplies reaching Corinto can be
miles of Managua, where the quake
broke the rail- lines. Hundreds of
Managuans have walked the miles
to reach the railroad in order to secure
transportation to ivable quarters until
Managua can be cleaned up and rebuilt.
Practically nowhere in the city was
there a building left standing which
was fit for habitation. Two of the city'S
three banks are total ruins. In one of
these, the Anglo-South American Bank,
a half million dollars in gold reposed.
but the walls were left by the quake in
such dangerous condition that no one
has ventured inside.
Radio Operators Busy.
1t was thought for a while that the
bank would have to be dynamited to
break the path of the blaze which ate
out the interior of the National Palace,
across the street, after its walls had
been knocked down by the tremors, but
a change in direction of the wind altered
the situation.
Managua is still without communica-
tons save that afforded by the Tropical
Radio form its power plant miles
outside the city. The operators there
have worked nnstintingly without sleep
for more than SO hours, handling many
thousands of words of press matter.
An employe of the Pan American
Anyways, who was in a downtown
Managua Office at the time of the
tremorS, described them as quick shocks
and not undulatory in character. Far
from coming in waves, they impressed
him like the rattle of a machine gun.
Houses fell in heaps about him while
the shocks were still taking place.
There have been no additions to the
toll Of four American dead and about
a score injured in varying degrees.
Fire Difficult Task.
Fighting the terrible fire which came
on the heels Of the earthquake was a,
hand-to-hand job. Many Of the Ma
rines, striding into the flames, suffered
loss Of their shoes, which were burned
of their feet but they stayed on the job.
In an effort to check the march of
the flames they started blasting, but it
was hard work, for the f1imsy houses
of stick and adobe burned like finder.
Once 1t seemed that the impossible
had been accomplished. Then the
flames licked up the walls of a store
house where drums of gasoline were
piled. The stuff exploded, hurting blaZ-
ing brands over the area nearby and
starting the fire afresh.
Late yesterday afternoon the National
Palace, where the Nicaraguan Congress
sits and where the government records
are kept, caught fire after every one
had thought 1t was safe.
The palace was only pile Of wreck
age after the earthquake, but the de-
bris roared into a blaze, famed by
stiff wind.
Market Hardest Hit.
From the market place in the middle
Of the city $50 bodies have been taken.
This was where the blow fell heaviest.
AS in most Latin cities the house
wives do their shopping in the morning
at the Central Market They were there
when the first shock came.
Most of the bodies were crushed be-
yond recognition.
At the National Penitentiary every
prisoner, except few who were in the
yard, was killed. A hundred bodies
have been taken out of the wreckage.
Airplanes from the Coco Solo Air Sta
ton at Cristobal arrived yesterday aft
ernoon, each bringing 800 pounds OF
medical supplies and physicians. Capt.
A. D. Bernhardt, commanding officer at
Coco Solo, came with them, then went
back Immediately for more supplies
PLANE CARRIER AT GRAYToWN.