Bosco Tre Case is very easy to reach and to examine. The road is clear, up to where the mass of lava has blocked the railway. The officers of the municipality, three in number, were standing at the entrance of the road into the village, with a plate, asking contributions from the tourists, who were driving through in numbers. The lava, a black, rough mass, covering fields, and what had been houses, was still smoking. But its path was not very wide, this village only being destroyed, and on each side of it the fields were in their usual state. The destruction in the path of the lava was absolutely complete, of course. I could not find any Red Cross people there, so I drove on to Pompeii, and took the next train to Ottajano. As we went up toward Ottajano, the ashes began to show in the fields. At first only a thin gray dust, they increased as we ascended. It was a pitiful sight, the vineyards and orchards dying in the ashes. It was like a tremendous snowfall, with drifts here and there, but smooth in most places. For miles, the vineyards are three feet deep in ashes. Here and there, women and children, with small baskets on their heads, were laborously carrying away the ashes and dumping them on the side of the roads. But it would be about as easy to empty Lake Erie with a tablespoon. At Ottajano, I found the army and the Red Cross in full control. Seven hundred homeless people are here cared for. One thousand have been sent to friends or to America, or scattered here and there where work can be found for them. The Red Cross people said that it was impossible to tell how long those who remained would have to be looked after. Perhaps six months would not be enough. Three hundred was too large an estimate, they said, of those killed in the eruption; but certainly over one hundred had perished, and very likely many more. The soldiers and the men were at work digging ashes, and casting them away on tiny freight cars. The women were sitting in groups, with nothing to do. Some sewing is now being given out by the Red Cross. The houses are full of ashes to the second story, and the roofs either gone altogether, or broken and unsafe from the weight of the ashes on them. The Red Cross gives out rations and clothes and seems to be extremely well conducted. There are various officials and Sisters of Mercy, all working constantly and with great system.
The covering of the fields by ashes is the worst part of the disaster, for it means that the livelihood of the people is gone for an indefinite time. They are hardworking, deserving peasants, and now their crops are gone, and the soil will not bear anything for three or four years, till the ashes are assimilated. They are far too deep to be plowed in at present. There is no possible place to dump them. Every road is full, every waste space heaped up high.
The Red Cross has not as yet published any bulletin or account of their work. They will do so, however, in the end. Of course they need money, and will continue to need it for months. I hope America can send them some, for they certainly deserve it.
Sincerely yours,
EMILY P. BISSELL.
Items from the April Bulletin of the Red Cross International Committee of Geneva.
The Bulletin contains a report of the hospital sent to and maintained in Manchuria by the German Red Cross Society. The equipment filled 24 cars, providing for a hospital of 120 beds, a disinfecting apparatus, Röntgen plant, a bacteriological laboratory, and provisions for six months. Its personnel consisted of the Chief Surgeon, four Assistant Surgeons, two students, an administrator, a technical officer, 12 sister nurses and nine lay nurses. A large part of the personnel spoke Russian. Dr. Brentano, the Chief Surgeon, who considered the collaboration of feminine service of inestimable value, exacted that the sister nurses should belong to strictly religious orders, and that the character of the lay nurses should be strongly vouched for.
At the termination of the war, in returning to their country, 59 Japanese officers and 1721 soldiers who had been prisoners in Russia passed through Germany. For those who had been sick or wounded the German Red Cross turned the cars into veritable hospitals. At Berlin, upon order of the Emperor and Empress, the German Red Cross prepared a reception for them. Tea, cigarettes and some Japanese papers were distributed among them. At Hamburg the transportation of the sick and wounded to the ship was quickly accomplished by the Red Cross sanitary columns, and those who were well taken by a Red Cross detachment to see the city.