1938-07-30 — Page 11

THE CHINA MAIL, JULY 30, 1988.

THE KOBE FLOOD DISASTER Vivid Picture By Former Hong Kong Resident City Buried Under

Feet Of mud

Following are extracts from the letter of a former Hong Kong resident to a relative in the Colony outlining personal experience in the great flood disaster at Kobe, which is estimated to have cost nearly a thousand lives and caused damage exceeding 500,000,000 yen.

"You

will no doubt be expecting Kobe being under 4 feet of water,|

* * *

..

HANDSOME TEAM are Henry Fonda and Joan Bennett, star- ring in "I Met My Love Again," Walter Wanger's new · romantic drama at the King's Theatre.

MAY ABOLISH COCKFIGHTING AT TRINIDAD

Manila, July 25.

1

week. The closing of the cockpit The Trinidad cockpit will be is in accordance with the condi closed on August 9 in accordance tions imposed by the department passed by the of interior regarding its opera- with a resolution

since it was opened municipal district council last tions

ofter quite a stir two years ago. mud mud 3 to 4 feet high with terThe cockpit was ordered closed rific streams of water running here July 1, 1986, after one month's op- and there. That wide road from eration by Fernando Gorospe, Bag- Sannomiya station to the office has ulo attorney, and his associates, been a terrific river for 3 days. upon orders from President Quer- is on from Manila ordered the closing The Oriental Hotel grill room packed with mud up to the ceiling of the establishment "to remove the natives from the contamination of vice. as are all basements in Kobe.

a detailed account from me of the that the Tor Hotel road was a roar- great flood and landslides that ing river four feet deep and so on. have wrecked Kobe and the sur-It was now about 6 p.m., they had rounding districts. As you will started out from Kobe at 10 a.m. have read from the papers, the dis- after the rain (the real damage aster is really beyond imagination was done in Kobe between 9 a.m. and has to be seen to be believed. and 11 a.m.). Naturally it was hard On Tuesday morning July 5th it to believe as the land could not slide on Tor road and we could not was raining rather heavily in Higashi-Tarumi so I waited in the see where all the water could have house until 9.30 am. Just about come from. Anyhow suddenly T. then the rain had thinned out so in mud. They had driven their car and T. D. arrived up to their necks I walked down to our little tram station only to find that no trams office is high up on the Tor road into Kobe early that morning. Their

were running. I had not been there more than five minutes when Others were too exhausted to speak. and they repeated the same story. the Heavens opened out in carnest

There was nothing more to do but and I managed to get home before the terrific downpour. From then to go home and wait. onwards until lunch time we had rain such as I am sure I will never. On the 7th, Mr. J. arranged for see again. Fortunately as oura launch service leaving Shioya house is on a hill surrounded by Club at 8 a.m. and returning from fields instead of retaining walls, wel Kobe 3 p.m. 1 decided to go down were neither flooded nor subjected and there were about 30 other for to landslides. By a miracle the eigners on board. The whole of B-S bungalow survived the raine Kobe was a complete wreck, piles suffering no damage whatever al of rubbish surrounded by water though their place is perched peri-knee deep. The approach to the of lously near the edge f a cliff. fice was cut off by mud 8 feet high, We walked along the We went up towards Tor road. It lower car road to Shioya. There was a streaming river, all the shops were about half a dozen land slides were from 3 to 4 feet high in mud completely burying both the train many of them completely wiped out. and tram tracks. In addition the It was a pitiful sight. We reached Irails of the tram were swept away the Tor Hotel, knee high in filth at one spot. We walked on and and mud. The lovely Tor Hotel reaching Shioya found that the big gardens are unrecognisable. About vey to you the awful sights that permit him to operate was granted train bridge had been completely half a dozen cars buried there. The exist in Kobe to-day. Thousands of to enable him t destroyed. We continued on to hotel was completely flooded out homes and small shops completely ments he put into the venture

having started in good faith wards Suma and this is where we with 4 feet of mud left on the wiped out. It really has to be seen which Malacanan recognised as saw the beginning of the real dis- ground floor, We moved on towards to be appreciated.

of the real die

the Hong Kong Bank Mess. That You will be wondering where all accordance with existing ordinan. district is completey wiped out. The this water came from that flooded ces in Trinidad.

MAY BE DELAYED Kobe. The enormous Nunobiki re- Train, tram and road were buried Mess has fallen and all the sur

Closing of the cockpit after two beneath solossal trees mud etc. All rounding houses are destroyed be- servoir, outlet or overflow got the nearby houses were flooded out. yond repair. All the Japanese clogged up with landslides trees years in accordance with the ori it was impossible to pass. houses were carried down the hill etc. caused by the torrential rain. ginal condition is expected to be Just then the first lot of people that killing many people en-route. We The result was that this reservoir subject to delay, however, because We began to overflow. As it overflowed Mr. Gorospe claims that he has not had got into Kobe that morning headed towards Sannomoya station.

more mud entered the reservoir fully recovered his investments. were coming through the debris. It was very dangerous going. The They told us amazing stories about whole place was nothing but mud with the result that up the space The Trinidad resolution closing the which should have been occupied establishment is still subject to with water. Therefore all the re-approval by the provincial board servoir water was forced over the in Bontoc, Mr. Gorospe intends to dams. As Nunobiki reservoir is file à petition for reconsideration the main water supply for Kobe in case the closing is approved by

the provincial board. you can imagine its size.

aster.

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Here's Luck!

PAPELERIA ING

EWO

BEER