THE EARTHQUAKE.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13336, 30 January 1909, Page 9

THE EARTHQUAKE.

DETAILS BY MAIL

' TERRIBLE SCENES

DOCTOR'S GRAPHIC

ACCOUNT

__ite_ Prsss Association—By Elsctria Telsgr-ph—Copyright.

FREMANTLE, January 29

The European mail brings details of the earthquake in Italy and Sicily. Inhabitants of Italian towns visited by the earthquake wore —©loop at the time of the shock, which came without warning a Little after 5 o'olock in tlio morning. It lasted over thirty seconds at .Messina, and literally swung buildings out of their perpendicular and let them crash in a heap of* ruins. Then came fires and explosions of gasometers, and finally a huge tidal wave of liquid mud, which swept over tho quays and engulfed the lowlying portions of tho town, drowning tho miserable beings pinned beneath the ruined buildings. This is why no satisfactory estimato of the probable number of deaths has yet been made. Hero is a typical story told by a woman who reached Palermo from Messina :—"lt was a hellish scene. Wo were still sleeping when we wero suddenly awakened by a strange noise. Tlio windows all rattled, and then the doors burst open with a bang. Some of us were thrown out of bed by tho violence of the shock. A deluge of rain was falling, and the night was very dark. 'Terremoto, terremoto!' we" shrieked, all shivering with terror. Scarcely halfclothed, I fled with my brother and sis tor, but lost them in tho street. Other peoplo wero running to and fro crying desperately and shouting for help, invoking the Madonna and the Saints. All around us were crumbling walls, crashing windows, and splintering woodwork. The water came up to our knees, and ncan. the sea-front all tho steamers were flooded with muddy water, which roared terribly and battered everything witiA incredible violence."