EARTHQUAKE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 445, 2 January 1909, Page 3

EARTHQUAKE.

Staking Details.

« Like the end of the World.”

Rome, December 30. The first shock of earthquake lasted a minute. Some survivors say the earth cracked with a noise as of guns. Others describe the scene as * ‘ like the end of the world.” They say it is impossible to convey an idea of the Titanic grandeur of the tragedy. The death of the chief of police at Messina and his five children was most tragic. His wife and boy escaped by standing under the framework of the largest door, while walls and floors fell around her, burying the rest of the family. Out of 200 Customs guards at Messina only 41 escaped, and out of 280 railway employees only eight were saved. Out of 100 post office employees

in the same city only six were

saved. The garrison has been reduced by casualties to a small number. Hundreds of persons injured at Messina have been brought .to Naples, The survivors describe the town as a 7 -antic dust heap. Ohly a few thou ands escaped. A train from Palerrpo (capital of Sicily) was unable to come within ten miles of Messina. All the buildings and bridges were broken. Reuter reports that, according to latesf estimates, 106,700 perished in Messina, including all the pro-

citizens. Thirty people were suffocated in the Hotel Trinacria, Messina, while attempting to escape. Some were suspended by the feet from window bars..

Most of the members of an operatic company (who were staying in the hotel) escaped, owing to the leading soprano throwing mattresses out of a window and jumping from the third floor. The rest of the company followed the lady’s example, and thus reacted safety. Nhmbers are still pinned beneath the ruins, and are groaning piteously. There are 15,000 dead at Santreu and Fernia.

Mr Ogston, British Consul at Messina (who lost his wife, but saved his daughter), relates that he and his wife, carrying their little daughter, escaped from the Consul late- at Messina through a window.

A balcony fell into the street, killing his wife. He seized the child, which was uninjured, and joined fifty others who were flee-

ing to the country. Falling balconies, columns, and chimneys killedJialf a dozen of the party at a titpe/ Ultimately only four reached the open country. The Consul was inConsulate collapsed, and it is feared that the Consul and his wife have been ? killed. An English sailor with a rope rescued twenty persons from the fifth story of a house in Messina. The building then fell, severely injuring him. „ The British battleship Exmouth is, conveying tents, mattresses, blankets, and beef from Malta to Messina. >The military warehouses at , Rome are emptied of clothing, blankets, and provisions, which have been sent to Sicily. British and Russian bluejackets performed wonders in rescue work at Messina.

The British steamer Drake reasoned 2050 persons, while the crew of a British merchantman rescued many from burning houses.

Kipg Victor Emmanuel has de-

dared that Britain’s prompt re- “ spon.se shows the brotherhood of the two nations.

. King Emmanuel is helping to v direct the rescue work at Messina. Queen Helena is visiting the injured aboard the ships in the harbour. She herself rescued a child from the ruins. It is reported at Naples that sailors of the Russian warship Makaroff discovered in the ruins of< Messina twenty million francs, supposed to belong to the ruined branch building of the Bank of Italy. The sailors took the treasure to the commander of their ship.

People are frantic to go to search for their relations, and steamer captains are refusing £SO for the ’passage from Naples to Sicilian" ports. • The consternnation which prevails throughout Italy, especially in Rome and Naples, is indescribable. The country is in mourn ing. The exchanges and theatres are closed. 1

Expressions of profound sym- ' pathy with Italy are coming from •' all parts of the world. ' President Roosevelt cabled to

■ King Victor Emmanuel expressing' the horror of the United States at

the calamity. 1 ? ' President Faillieres, MM. Cle'menceau and Pichon (French 'Premier and Foreign Minister respectively), King Edward,' the * KaiSer, and Prince von Bulow also ■ telegraphed their grief and sympathy. ■ What Scientists Say. ! (ilobe. ■ - ; ''Professor Suess, the celebrated Austrian geologist, states that the theatre of the catastrophe is a Spot wheje the earth is sinking in disc-like-form. W&en the sinkipg process; is complete, the .hills of Scylla and a the range,

the Eastern Sicilian LaiE will project from the sea. Professor Suess adds: “We are witnessing a collapse of the terrestrial globe that began long ago. The shortness of human life allows us to be of good cheer.” Sanger Spots to be Avoided. Scientists insist that people must be compelled to re-erect homes on spots hitherto spared, instead of rebuilding places * which are regularly devastated by shocks. Rome, Dec. 31. The latest reports indicate that the mortality figures at Messina, and in the Calabrian coastal cities of Reggio, Bagnara, Seminara, and Palmi are as follows •• Messina ••• 1 35> 000 Reggio 1 4 0 > 000 Bagnara ••• 12,000 Seminara , ••• l >s°° Palmi - 'I' 000 Total in five cities 202,500 The 135,000 people who lost their lives at Messina included 200 visitors. ... Reggio, where 40,000 perished, was a city with a population of 44,000. . Two-tbirds of the district of Palmi haye been destroyed. Of the 14,000 dead there, 3000 have been urteir? fl T a common grave. The town of Scylla (on the Calabrian coast, south of Bagnara) has vanished. The German steamer Therapia, when approaching Messina, met boatloads of men and women craving for food and water. The beach is furrowed with enormous gaps, whence sulphurous vapours are issuing. The railway station at Reggio, in .falling, crushed 400. The collapse of tlie barracks killed 2000 soldiers. , Immense fissures have opened in Reggio.