QUAKE DISASTER

Hokitika Guardian, 24 July 1930, Page 5

QUAKE DISASTER

CASUALTIES IN ITALY. ic [United Press Association—By Electri Telegraph.—Copyright.] LONDON, July 23. A message from Naples, reports ai d earthquake which has caused H n casualties. ir The earthquake resulted in ten peo pie being killed, and one hundred be ing injured, 20 of them seriously. NAPLES, July 23. The earthquake casualties includ< sixteen killed, c S CASUALTY LIST. e ii (Received this day at 9.40 a.m.) J ROME, July 23. Earthquake casualties arc now one hundred and sixty killed, 380 injured, including 100 dead and 300 injured in the town of Melfii which is in ruins. The adjoining village of Roballa had 20 killed. The whole of the Basilica region was ravaged, and Rionero ana Benevento suffered severely. ) 5 j FURTHER PARTICULARS. l J ROME, July 23. The earthquake rocked southern Italy soon after 1 o’clock in the morning. A widespread area is affected. 1 Naples is near the centre of the disturbance. Three violent shocks earned 1 n panic in the densely populated slum districts. The electric light failed, adding terror to the situation and making relief work most difficult. The palace at Naples practically collapsed, killing two. In surrounding towns many church towers are tottering. Firemen and' military are rendering valuable help. The eleventh century Cathedral at Salormo is partially destroyed. Troops and doctors are being rushed to the affected area. QUAKE DAMAGE, HEAVY LOSS OF LIFE (Received this day at noon.l LONDON, July 23. The “Daily, Mail’s” Naples correspondent reports an ever increasing death roll followed a big series of violent earthquakes, the latest occurring at ,3 o’clock in the afternoon. It is officially estimated that 276 dead and 842 injured, in the provinces of Naples, Foggia, Benevento, Auellino, Pantenza, Campobasso and Maifera. Bare details are unobtainable owing to the destruction of communications, but it is reported Villanova and Montecalva, two towns in Auellino, were totally destroyed, and 300 were .killed in Montecalva and 100 in Villanova, Several villages near Melfi are said to be rased. The first shock at Naples lasted nearly a minute. The inhabitants rushed out in their night clothes in narrow streets, where many were injured in the crush. When the electric light failed the scene was lit o.nlv by fitful .flares from Vesuvius, which is active. A tidal wave swamped the beaches, tearing vessels from moorings. Four persons were killed and 22 injured by falling debris. Two long violent explosions at Pozzuloli sulphur springs, which is a safety valve of Vesuvius, preceded the quakes, mud, boiling geyserlike in profusion. Mollandre is a living Vesuvius. The Observatory reports that the disturbances were.so violent that the seismograph needles jumped off the cards. LONDON. June 24. Telegraphs from Benevento state it is estimated two thousand inhabitants of Villanova. and Alba nese have been buried in debris. Three thousand were buried alive or killed in Benevento Province. OFFICIAL REPORT. ROME, July 24. An official communique deprecates an exaggeration of the catastrophe. The victims in all the provinces are less than 200. Ten provinces are badly shaken. Potenza is suffering the worst, but there were many casualties in the province of Avellino, in which the towns of Villanova and Montecalva have been wiped out, with, it is feared, a heavy death roll.