THE MESSINA EARTHQUAKE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 609, 5 November 1913, Page 5

THE MESSINA EARTHQUAKE.

SCENE OF DESOLATION. DETAILS OF DISASTER. By Telegraph.—Press Association. —Couyrisnt Received Tuesday, 93.5 p.m. London, Tuesday. The Daily Chronicle's Messina correspondent furnishes a vivid description of the desolation existing. The Government a year ago voted a hundred thousand pounds to repair the ravages of the great earthquake but the contractors have not started. Wharves are still sunken; the quay sides shattered, and the parade encumbered with rubbish due to a 150-ffc tidal wave. Nevertheless the natural advantages of siu'b a trade port are already greater than bet ore the disaster. The Cathedral., whereof the gem-laden altar alone cost 000 is in ruins; twenty-two pillars of the Temple Neptune and Charybdis lie smashed cn the pavements. Nightwatebmen. armed with revolvers, guard the ruins, but many mosaics and statues have been plundered.

Twenty-seven million sterling or treasure has already been recovered irom the ruins, including eighty thousand pounds in cash on the premises of one small firm. Few Sicilians invest in the bank; they peier to conceal their hoards in saekfuls in coins and Oriental bonds. Exquisite jewel and pearls have been found. There are thirty thousand bodies unrecovered. iviany that were dis'nterrod were shockingly carbonised, in other cases there were unmistakable signs ihat the victims survived on the chance of iood for days and weeks. Thirteen lmmired bodies were buried in 3 tomb 100 feet, by :!0 feet.