'Wireless and the Earthquake' in Radio Times
The 1923 edition of the BBC Christmas Radio Times, available for download, includes articles by wireless operator F. A. Cobb and radio amateur William Le Queux 2AZ
On page 4 of the PDF (p450 of Radio Times) is "Wireless and the Earthquake" by F. A. Cobb, a senior wireless operator in the merchant service, who was engaged in relief work during the terrible Great Kantō earthquake in Japan in which at least 105,385 people perished.
F. A. Cobb highlights the importance of wireless in providing communications when the fixed cable infrastructure had been destroyed:
"When the earthquake first occurred, Tokio and Yokohama, with the surrounding districts, were almost entirely cut off from the outer world, all the land cable lines having been destroyed. It was, therefore, the wireless installations on the ships that lay at anchor in Yokohama Bay that took the place of the destroyed telegraphs. It was through these that all the relief ships approaching Kobe were kept in touch with. It was through these that the tremendous number of messages inevitable on such an occasion were handled, and it is certain that the efficient and speedy measures that were necessary to prevent disturbances and to provide first-aid and medical attention would have been greatly delayed had it not been for wireless."
On page 11 of the PDF (p457 of Radio Times) is an article "My Pioneering Experiments in Broadcasting" by radio amateur William Le Queux 2AZ. In it he says:
One night, when the young Crown Prince of Johore - known as " Biffi " to his intimates - was at my microphone, speaking to his brother Ahmed, an. Oxford undergraduate, who was listening upon a set in Ipswich, his first words were, "Hulloa! I'm Biffi speaking from 2AZ." Whereupon an amateur tapped out, in Morse: " 2AZ ! If your friend is Beefy he needn't tell us so. Who is he ? Please reply,"
Within ten miles of my house there lived a boastful amateur who laid claim to a wonderful range of reception upon a single valve. At the moment the " Victorian tests were in progress. The amateur in question had told me so many fairy tales about his reception that I resolved to play a joke upon him. So one night I put my wave-length up to over 2,000 metres, put in all my power, and assuming my best Italian announced that I was speaking from Coltano. in Italy, and calling Stavanger, in Norway. I gave him a few lines from Dante as test, and asked for an acknowledgment. Next day my amateur friend was telling everyone that he had heard telephone transmission from Coltano, and he has never been disillusioned, unless he reads these lines.
Download a PDF version of the 1923 Christmas Radio Times
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/genome/entries/dbd2cfd7-f32c-4138-90fd-fd25e94e3694
1923 Great Kantō earthquake
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1923_Great_Kant%C5%8D_earthquake