Evening star., 1946-12-22

The main city on Shikokus east
coast. Tokushima, apparently es-
capped major damage, first reports
said, although 80 were dead at Mige,
80 miles away, and the British air
field nearby was covered with water.
Mr.. White, in the first group OF
10 correspondents to reach the
stricken area, said Osaka escaped
major damage and conditions there
were nearly normal.
Although some tunnels had been
blocked by ,landslides, all had been
cleared and travel from Tokyo to
Osaka was normal.
Kainan Living He'll"
Mr.. White reported that casualties
and damage on Wakayama Penin-
.sula still could not be accurately
calculated.
A dispatch to the newspaper
Asahi described once-prosperous
Kainan in Wakayama prefecture as
"a living hell" standing in 4 feet
of water and Uttered with quake
splintered houses and streetcars.
"It was like a living hell on earth, :"
the dispatch quoted an old man,
spattered with mud, who sloshed
aimlessly through the water as
though looking for something.
No reliable reports had yet been
received concerning the possible
death toll in Kainan, which was
struck by six separate tidal waves.
The Asahi dispatch said two
boats of more than 10 tons were
tossed on the streetcar tracks near
the center of the city. Debris from
wrecked houses blocked sections of
the railroad track. Wood from
splintered streetcars and houses
was scattered across the water.
The old Japanese quoted in the
dispatch said that with first tidal
wave onslaught warning bells
changed, children screamed. Waves
feet high hit us with a roar like
a thunder of fireworks"
Quake Strikes Before Dawn.
Striking before dawn at 4:20 am.
yesterday (2:20 pm. Friday, EST
the tremor shook vast area OF
Southern Japan.
Ten to Is minutes later, the first
of six seismic-born ocean waves
rolled over the coast at heights esi-
mated up to 10 feet, washing away
fishing villages, flooding countless
homes far inland and drowning
many japanese who had escaped
the quake itself.
Again and again the huge waves
rolled in, then ebbed with awful de-
struction at intervals of about a
half-hour. Lesser tremors accompa-
MED them. At some points quake-set
fires added to the horror. /
officials of the Japanese Central
Meteorological Observatory said the
disaster was the most severe ever
known to have shaken Japan. one
official of the observatory was
quoted by the Kyodo News Agency
as declaring the quake might prove
to be the biggest ever recorded IN
the world.
The observatory placed the cpl
center at 1876 East longitude, 80
North latitude. This would be a
spot under the Pacific Ocean about
As miles southwest of the Waka-
wanna Peninsula of Honshu-7Japar S
main standard SO miles southeast
of Shikoku, smallest of the major
islands.
IA Prefectures Damaged.
Kyodo said at least IA prefectures
had widespread damage, naming
them as Gifu, Osaka, Kochi, Kaga-
wa, Shiga, Hyogo, Shizuoka, Nara,
Oita, Tokushima, Wakayama, Mie,
Okayama and Aichi. These stretch
the width of Japan and embrace
Southern Honshu, Shikoku Island,
and Eastern and Northern Kyushu.
Scattering reports told OF sur
vivors fleeing in panic to the hills
in anticipation of further shocks.
Sonrei Hagiwara, professor OF
earthquake research at the I'M
perial University, said he believed
the earthquake originated on the
outer Pacific fault line, running
from New Zealand through the
Solomons to Japan and the Aleu-
tians and predicted likely addi-
tional tremors along the same line.
He said the quakes of 1923 and
1914 were on this fault, and that
almost the identical area OF the
new quake was ravished similarly
in 1854.
japanese experts said the fact
that the epicenter was under water,
held down the casualties, but all
expected the toll to rise as isolated
areas reported. 4
Former Capitals Survive.
The affected area included only
the most scattering forces of Amerl-
cans, most of whom are con-
centrated in the Tokyo vicinity,
which was unharmed. The quake
zone includes the British occupation
sphere, and British authorities said
their headquarters at Kure sus-
tanned some damage.
Full accounts, however, would
have to wait at least two days for