Evening star., 1952-08-24
Bakersfield Cleans Dp
Earthquake Rubb|e;;
$50 Million Loss Seen
BY the Asseeiotsd Press

Up hs1 ASSoCtot0o TtoSS
"BAKERSFIEID, Calf, Aug.
23.-The quake-battered Bakers
field community swept up the rub
BILE today and counted damage es-I
timated tentatively at $40 million
from yesterdays sharp shock. Two
lives were lost and 80 persons
injured.
Meanwhile, the epicenter Of al
temblor which shook Los Angeles
early today was placed at only Is
miles northeast of Pasadena. It'll
caused no damage but woke thou
sands of persons in the middle of
the night.
City Manager C. Leland Gum
said that the damage from yes
terday's shock will be greater than
that of the July 81 quake. He
placed Bakersfield's loss in the
earlier shock at SIS million.
Other sources have placed it as
high as $40 million. Conservative
estimates of earthquake loss in
the month following July 81. place
total damage at $40 million. Yes
terday's quake would boost that
to $50 million or more.
6-BlOck Area Closed.
All stores and offices. scores OF
them, in a Six-block area OF the
glass and mortar filled downtown
sector were closed. The drop in
commercial activity added another
Intangible loss, impossible to esti-
mate Immediately.
Police Chief Horace v. GraySon
said the six-block heart of the
downtown section will remain
closed until at least Monday.
1T might even take until We'd
nesday to get all shaky walls down
and bricks and glass out Of the
street, Mr.. Grayson said.
Mr.. Gum said that preliminary
inspection shows at least 100
buildings were badly damaged.
Some, weakened on July 81, were
made completely untenable by
yesterdays quake.
Schools and churches were par
ticularly hard hit. City School
Superintedent John Compton said
there is doubt whether all students
could be accommodated at the
opening of the fall semester,
scheduled in two weeks.
Five churches cracked by the
temblor planned emergency SER
vices elsewhere, the ministers an
nounced. Churches made unsafe
are Catholic. Presbyterian. Con-
gregational, Seventh-day Advent
ist and Church of Christ.
Emergency Meeting Set.
Mayor Frank E. Sullivan called
an emergency city council meet
ing tomorrow to discuss what civil
defense and other aid should be
asked. The Kern County SUPER
visors held a curbstone meeting
and asked the State of California
for emergency aid. a
Gov. Earl Warren, in Sacra-
mento, promised that all help
desired will be made available.
Still on the Governors desk are
a batch of bills aimed at helping
Kern County areas stricken by the
first big quake. One Of these
calls for 3 million dollars in loans
for reconstruction or repair of
public buildings. Kern County
officials have termed this "just
drop in the bucket compared with
what we need"
Killed yesterday were George T.
Cozby, Ct. Bakersfield, and Mrs.
Edna Ledbetter. 26. Mcfarland,
Calf. Nine of the 80 injured re-
manned in hospitals today. The
July 81 quake took IA lives, IL of
them at Tehachapi, 35 miles east
of here.
See Continuing Shocks.
Seismologists at California In
stitute of Technology foresaw at
least another year Of continuing
Shocks of them minor af-
tershocks." There were two small
er shocks here last night.
That there might be a gradual
spreading of the earth'S unrest
was indicated by the $40 am.