Page 40 - GFA – A Different Drumbeat
P. 40
GFA – A Different Drumbeat 40
I little thought on that grey December morning in London when I opened the paper
and read the report of the terrible earthquake that had occurred in Kansu that within
five short months I would be back in the province seeing for myself the terrible havoc
that had been wrought.
Dr. Robert Parry was the CIM doctor in the Bordern Memorial Hospital (See image here) in
Lanchow, and Mrs Parry remembers the earthquake well.
On December 16th we had an awful earthquake, even now (January 3rd) we still get
small shocks and feel the vibrations. ‘We were sitting in the nursery talking. In a
second the house was shaking violently, we were rocking in our chairs. Dr. Parry
quickly ran for Joan and got us outside, where all the frightened servants and others
were making a great wail. Outside we were so shaking it seemed difficult to realize
where we were, heads were giddy and our middle kingdom seemed lost altogether.
The big shake kept on for five minutes - it seemed a year - lots of damage was done,
chimney pots fell all over the place, walls came down, big cracks appeared in the
house walls, but all the hospital buildings (the Bordern Memorial Hospital) remained
intact. When the first shake was over, Dr. Parry had a time going all over the place
seeing to things and trying to comfort frightened patients, nurses, etc. That night we
had thirty shocks.
We spent the night outside, Dr. Parry got beds out for us, and he sat up. The next
day frequent shocks occurred. My, it did keep one’s tension up! We began to get
accustomed to quiet shakes, and were hoping all was over, when about six o’clock
on Christmas evening we got another bad one, which sent us all outside again for
I little thought on that grey December morning in London when I opened the paper
and read the report of the terrible earthquake that had occurred in Kansu that within
five short months I would be back in the province seeing for myself the terrible havoc
that had been wrought.
Dr. Robert Parry was the CIM doctor in the Bordern Memorial Hospital (See image here) in
Lanchow, and Mrs Parry remembers the earthquake well.
On December 16th we had an awful earthquake, even now (January 3rd) we still get
small shocks and feel the vibrations. ‘We were sitting in the nursery talking. In a
second the house was shaking violently, we were rocking in our chairs. Dr. Parry
quickly ran for Joan and got us outside, where all the frightened servants and others
were making a great wail. Outside we were so shaking it seemed difficult to realize
where we were, heads were giddy and our middle kingdom seemed lost altogether.
The big shake kept on for five minutes - it seemed a year - lots of damage was done,
chimney pots fell all over the place, walls came down, big cracks appeared in the
house walls, but all the hospital buildings (the Bordern Memorial Hospital) remained
intact. When the first shake was over, Dr. Parry had a time going all over the place
seeing to things and trying to comfort frightened patients, nurses, etc. That night we
had thirty shocks.
We spent the night outside, Dr. Parry got beds out for us, and he sat up. The next
day frequent shocks occurred. My, it did keep one’s tension up! We began to get
accustomed to quiet shakes, and were hoping all was over, when about six o’clock
on Christmas evening we got another bad one, which sent us all outside again for
