A new volcano has broken out in the Chichibu range, about 50 miles northwest of Tokio, according to advices from Osaka. Kiddo, county seat of the imperial family, is reported not to be seriously damaged. Many foreigners were reported earlier to have been staying in Nikko when last Saturday’s quake occurred.
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Osaka, Sept. 5—So vast an area of Japan has been devastated by the greatest earthquake in the history of this country that it will be long before the actual loss of life is known. The most reliable estimates of the dead up to the present reach as high as 200,000 to 320,000.
Tokio and Yokohama, with surrounding towns, which formed the center of the disturbances, are almost completely in ruins. For two days Tokio was swept by flames, and apart from the loss of life caused directly through the falling of the buildings, thousands must have perished in their attempts to make their way through the fire screen, and other thousands from exhaustion.
Yokoshama, Tokio’s busy port, is a city destroyed. Probably more complete destruction has been wrought there than in the capital itself, for its great docks were torn asunder, the shipping wrecked, its public buildings and homes leveled to the earth.
All advices received here indicate a succession of earth disturbances that in areas extending for many miles inland and in the north, and everywhere the first destructive forces were augmented by explosions, the bursting of water mains, the overflow of rivers and the terrible overpowering rush of tidal waves.
Details of geographical changes are lacking, but it is reported that new islands have been forced up from the bed of the ocean, while whole sections have disappeared. Rivers are said to have changed their courses, and volcanoes are erupting in various districts.
The disaster spared none who stood in its path.
Many members of noble families have perished, but thus far the only notable foreign resident in the list of killed is the American consul at Yokohama, Max D. Kirjassoff, who with his wife is believed to have been buried in the ruins of the consulate.
The American ambassador, Cyrus E. Woods, and all the members of the embassy at Tokio are known to be safe, but many of the diplomatic representatives of other nations have not been accounted for, nor has any word been received of their fate.
The newspaper Asahi estimates the earthquake dead at 320,000 which included 150,000 dead in Tokio, 100,000 in Yokohama and 60,000 in Yokosuka and 10,000 in Attami. Word is received that the fires in Tokio burned out Monday night but at the same time couriers carry appeals for food and medical supplies and assistance for the hundreds of thousands of homeless refugees who, unless succored speedily, cannot survive.
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Seven U.S. Ships Are on Way to Assist in the Relief Work
Washington, Sept. 5—Admiral Anderson, commanding the American Asiatic fleet, reported to the navy department by wireless that seven American destroyers had left Fort Arthur for Japanese ports to assist in the relief work.
The message was the first official report to the American government from the Far East since the earthquake, and it contained no information as to the situation there.
[Port Arthur, China, now called Lushunkou District in the city of Dalian.]
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Japan’s Largest Cities in Devastated Area
From fragmentary dispatches that have reached this country from the devastated, flaming regionsof Japan, shaken by earthquake and overrun by tidal waves, the possible extent of the damage is shown by the following list of cities seriously affected:
Tokio (close to the center of the disturbance), population 5,164,000, loss of life said to be appalling but no accurate count.
Shinagawa, four miles from Tokio, population 18,000.
Yokohama, 17 miles from Tokio, population 428,000, estimated dead 10,000.
Atami, 60 miles southwest of Tokio, population 2,600.
Gotemba, 60 miles from Tokio, population 1,000.
Nagoya, 168 miles from Tokio, population 430,000, said to be totally destroyed.
Osaka, 260 miles from Tokio, population 1,250,000; buildings collapsed, few injured.
The full force of the earthquake was felt in Nagoya, according to late dispatches. This extended the known area of the devastation tremendously. Hitherto it had been reported that no damage had been reported farther away than Shizuoka, 90 miles southwest of Tokio. Nagoya is 78 miles farther from Tokio and on a direct line west.
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Red Cross Calls on Nation for $5,000,000 Relief
Washington, Sept. 5—As the federal government continued its effort to provide prompt and effective aid to earthquake sufferers in Japan and endeavored to obtain information as to the whereabouts and conditions of Americans in the zone of disaster, American Red Cross officials decided to conduct an immediate campaign for a $5 million relief fund. Contributions already are being received a headquarters here.
From the front page of The Reidsville Review, Sept. 5, 1923. $5 million in 1923 would be the same as $90 million today.
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