THE EARTHQUAKE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 398, 6 January 1909, Page 7

THE EARTHQUAKE.

EXTENDS TO ISLANDS.

A VIOLENT SHOCK AT STROMBOLI.

THE TIDE OF SUCCOUR.

(ni TEr,EanAp«—rttEsa association—corrmonT.) Rome, January 4.

A violent shook of earthquake was experienced at Stromboli early to-day, lasting throe seconds, accompanied by an eruption of the volcano and terrifying subterranean rumblings. Much damage resulted. "

A severo shock was felt at Caltagirono, in Sicily, a town of 30,'000 inhabitants, 36 miles south-west of Catania. Several woro killed.

Shocks continue at Messina and Melito. Intense panio prevails:among the people./: No assistance has yetreaohed'the interior of Calabria and Sicily, though twenty-four towns were destroyed. Relief is almost concentrated at the coastal towns of Messina and Reggio, where many of the injured are accommodated in prisons. ; . • Famished people are eating the raw flesh of donkeys and horses, which tho troops distribute. INCIDENT OF THE PANIC. SOLDIERS RETREAT BEFORE Att.Mttn CIVILIAN. . : WORK OF DISINFECTION. Rome, January 4. Mr. Dorosar-ono of the two British esoapees from Messina, who got away by the steamer Afonwen—describes. some daring rescues amid the earthquake and flames by the Aforiwen's' second mate, Mr. Read, , and an ablo seaman named Smith.

Captain Owons, of the- Afonwen, while distributing food ashoro, entrusted Mr. Doresa with a boat as tho:only means of retreat. Soon fivo soldiers attempted to seizo tho boat in order to escapo to tho mainland. Mr. Doresa, producing a. revolver, put them to flight.

Othor rescuers had similar experiences at tho outset of the panic,

.'•■ Signor Santoli Guido, Director-General-, of Hygiene .in .Italy, thinks there-is little fear of epidemics resulting from the; heavy mortality. Enormous., quantities'. of disinfectants are being forwarded, including, hundreds, of. tona of'quicklimo and chloride;of,Jime. .''"''

All the municipal doctors of Italy and all the young doctors in Rome'-havo volunteered for service in -the earthquake zone. Tho noblest competition is shonn everywhere

:":.::: Adelaide,; •'..' A .first...instalment' of; a thousand poundß has-been cabled to; the .Lord Mayor of .London for the Italian earthquake fund.';.'.-

RESCUED ALIVE. SOME SURVIVORS AT REGGIO. . (Reo. January 6, 1.15 a.m.) v Rome, January 6. Some persons were rescued alive from the ruins of Reggio yesterday. London, January 5. The Mansion House fund has reached £40,000. It is understood that the Government will i make a diroet grant. AMERICAN AID. SPERRY'S SHIPS TO GIVE HELP.. (Reo. January' 6, 1 a.m.) New York, January 5. President ,Rodsevolt's special message to Congress declared that tho proposed grant for the rolief of tho Italian sufferers was prompted by obligations of humanity, and by the faot that many good American citizen's were formerly Italian immigrants; also f by gratitude for*tho abundanoo whorowith God has bleßscd the Americana in safety. Besides tho half-million dollars, both Houses voted 300,000 dollars, representing the steamers Celtic's and Culgoa's supplies. London, January 5. Renter's Washington correspondent states that the first division of Admiral Sporry's fleet has been erdored to Naples to assist in the work of relief. No other Italian porta will be visited. The American Red Orosß Society has teloUraphed 890,000 dollars to tho American Committee in Rome to charter a steamer, with supplies, to remove survivors. HELP FROM,NEW ZEALAND. GIFT OP £5000. At a meeting of Cabinet yesterday Ministers decided to send the sum of £6000 as a gift from tho people of Now Zealand for tho relief of the sufferers fronr tho -earthquakes in Italy and Sicily., : , (B* TEtBOIIAPn—rRESS ASSOCIATION.) Dunodin, January-5. ; .At a,meeting held this afternoon,' presided over, by the Mayor, it Was dooldea to hold an entertainment on January 12 irt aid of the relief fund,for sufferers_by the. earth-' quake. : - • ' ■ •;. , -.• New Plymouth, January o". " , /The Mayor ; hfts.opeucd a .fund, for tho Italian'carthquako suffcrcm

MR. WRACCE ON THE CAUSE OF IT,

VIOLENT SOLAR ACTIVITY, (BY, TELEGRAM—MESS ASSOCIATION.) ~■■■'•:■• Aiiohland, January 5. One of the passengers by the ■ Aparima, which arrived. in Auckland from Calcutta, was Mr. Clement Wragge, tho . eminent meteorologist and astronomer, who,--with Mrs. Wragge, is on a : return visit to the Dominion after a two-years' absence in India. To-day Mr. Wragge was asked for his viowß in regard to the causes of tho terrible earthquake. ■ , ■ ■ •' . "We have," ho said, "just come through the most remarkable period of solar aotivity on record. The sun many times previously has had its maximum and minimum moods, and, during the former, the great cyclones which form the sun spots are more pronounced than at any other times; On this occasion the maximum period has been unduly prolonged, and ought to'havo come to an end, according to all former observations, in the early part -of 1907. As a matter of fact,-over since, then the storms have been gotting somewhat less, though there have been'abnormal Solar oycloues noticeable on several occasions. _ , "Although the mmimuin mood of the sun is gradually coming, yet this abnormal maxi-: mum period is very stubborn, and is, as it were, trying to hold its own. As evidence of that, there is this rising'solar outburst. Under its influence those vibrations have been flung off by two big- storms now showing on the face'of the sun, and which, lam able to show by means' of the solar telescope. " The portions whero tho'surface of the earth is weak at-once respond.. Thus .we : have these fearful outbursts, which have occurred in South Italy, where the crust of the earth has responded only too readily to the vibra-, tions set up by the. two sun storms." ' Mr. Wragge then out his solar telescope, and, on pointing. it at the sun, a circle of light waß reflected on a sheet of paper placed at the eve-piece. On this were, seen, with startling distinctness, two prominent spots;:with'a third and smaller one at the-.side. ",Those< two," said Mr/ Wragge, "were-"without 'doubt- tho ' byclones ■ that o'auscd.tho big earthquake. I first noticed them.appear on the edge of the sun about six or seven" dayjs •'ago—just at the time of the ■quake." ■:.; .• -.. ■,;: . : ; -.'. ; . i :/; ' A SCIENTIST'S PREDICTIONS. ' :| ••■■-; '-; v - PEOFESSOK-SUESS. .-■ •'■'" ! ■'■ The spread' of 'the earthquake to Stromboli/; in the Lipari Islands,, is a new and striking feature. Tho Austrian soientist Eduard Suess, Professor Geology in the Vienna. University, whose opinion 'as to-the gradual; sinking, process in these regions,, was cabled on December 81, published some years ago. some interesting scientific faots bearing'.'on the same subject. A Terrestrial Collapse, ' '.. )■ According/to the cablegram, Professor Suess. states'that the theatre of the catastrophe is a spot 'where the earth' is sinking in disk-like forni.: Professor Suess .adds i;> "Wo are witnoss-ings-a. collapse of the terrestrial globo that began long ago, Tho-shortness of human life : allows us. to be' of good "cheer." ; - - : ■ -•• Tho professor's view is amplified and illustrated in - his .published work, and. in. a map (reproduced herein)'which-shows what'he calls "the peripheral lino of the Lipari Islands'."- The Lipari group is shown in black, and the ."earthquake : zone , where ; the!i recent damage was done is' : broadly' indicated by the peripheral line.''Messina .and Keggio are showiv in the maj); and Bagnara, Semivara, and Pahni, which

Tvere-also ruined,- are'on tho "west' coast of Italy, north.of,Reggio.-i. Professor Sucss .writes: ..-: -''Looking■■ from .tha volcanoes of Lipari' towardsthe mainland, on to the north'toast of Sicily, masses, of primitive rock with.' scarped: faces aro Eccn on every side. Gneiss or granite form the greater part of these rocks, and the succoodine,zones of schist and younger rocks'up to_ the:Pfysch occur' on.ihat sido-of the range which faces away from-' the Lipari Isles. ."• .. '"Towards the horth-oa6t, Monte-Cocuzz'o turns its; steep declivity; to' tho -Tyrrhenian' Sea; it is crowned 'by a remnant o'f' transgressivo limestone;, towards: the, interior tho■ longitudinal valley of Crati separates- Cocuzzo from the great mountain cone o'f tke'Sila. To the east'rise tho .gneiss formed heights of Cape Vaticaiio, and thfl.granite cliffs of- ScyJla, both of them fragments ■-. faulted, down from. thoAspro-: monte,-:whioh -rises.abruptly- above them, and on its. eastern side looking towards the lonian Sea,.'is; mantled-..with more recent deposits. Finally, on the south, along the Siclljan> coast, tho borders;of tho ancient Peloritan mass face .tho ..Lipari Isles; its oldest granites' are- ex- : posed in'the north-eastern part,of 1 the island, while on the opposite side, on tho slopes turned towards' Aetna, the younger zones of AsprOmonte are continued with a ohango of direction." • ■ .:•/■■;. ... ~-■■ • Thus. Aspromontc, the hills of Vaticano. . Sqylla, and 1 the 'Peloritan Mountains represent tho-fragments of a once continuous mountain chain, now out through by the.. Straits- 'of Messina.- Its chief marginal .fracture,-situated on tho west side .of Asproiiionte, faces thfl Lipari Islands, '■• ' / Tha Safomlo ActivityyOf-1783. This fracture was the path aloug which seismic activity made fits appearance for some months in tho year .1783. with repeated displacement of tho epicentre'.: This series of disturbances appears to havo' commenced., as early as 1780, with an eruption of Aetna, whioh was followed by violent local shocks near All and Fiumi di Niso, oh't'he coast <of Sicily ;'■ then on eruption of Vulcano took place, and, on- February ■5, 1783, the first considerable''Shock occurred along the fracture of Aspromonte,, near Oppido apu Santa Cristlna, when the, younger' Tertiary deposits were sevc«d from tho marginal fracture by a long deep cleft. The concussion was propagated to the south, west, and norths but only a short distance to the eiist, that is, not far across the marginal fracture. Within a few Weeks thoro was an unmistakable change in thd position of the'centre, the epicentre travelling past Soriano, and Polia as far as Girifalco, near tlio northern extremity of, the fraoture, arid then returning to Radioena, near Oppido, that is, close to its point of departure.' with tha exception of some extensive landslips in the port of Messina, no-permanent alteration took place in the sea coast. A comparison with other concussions which have Qcourred'.'bn, the southern shore of the Tyrrhenian Sod shows us that the line of 1785 forms'part of,'a great ourve, closely approximating to a clroular arc, which surrounds the Lipari' Isles /on the east and south, and is characterised by numerous earthquakes.' Tho aro runs east from Monte Coouzzo, through tho valloy of Crati, passing through Luxzi, near Bisignimo, Oosonzßi uolinlol, and .Sun.Stsfano,; iioar Hog. liano to Girifalco, thoUCe aloug tho disloea-