THE DISASTER WORK
It is unnecessary here to refer to the causes and disastrous results of the great explosion on the morning of December 6, 1917. As nearly as can be ascertained more than 1,500 people lost their lives, approximately 5,000 people were injured, of whom about 1,000 received more or less serious injuries. With hundreds of other citizens the members of the Halifax Divisions of the Brigade responded at once to the calls for assistance, and within an hour more than 140 members were on duty in the devastated area; on the Common, in improvised aid stations, and in the various emergency hospitals rendering first aid to the injured, the very object for which they had all been trained.
Later in the afternoon and through the two or three days following they added to their duties those of material relief, and until a few days later the citizens’ organization was established when the Brigade workers were fitted in under their Lady Superintendent as part of the medical relief work.
About sixty of the members remained on duty as V.A.D.’s in Camp Hill Hospital, the Y.M.C.A., Morris Street, and the various other hospitals for from one to five months following the explosion. For a short period following the disaster eight members of the St. John (N.B.) Division assisted the local division in providing personnel for the various hospitals.
The total of the services rendered during the period December 6th to 31st shows 1,098 days of hospital work, 217 cases of district relief followed up, 140 missing children located, as well as other missing persons traced, food distributed, and first aid service rendered.
An official report forwarded through regular channels to the headquarters of the Brigade in England was referred by headquarters to the parent organization, the Ancient Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in England, and in the spring of 1920 selected members of the Halifax Division and various citizens who co-operated with the Brigade in its invaluable work, were presented by the Lieutenant-Governor with the beautifully engraved certificates of thanks of the Order for their services rendered on the occasion of the disaster.