THE ITALIAN EARTHQUAKE.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9362, 3 February 1909, Page 5

THE ITALIAN EARTHQUAKE.

A STRIKING PICTURE. Cfnited Press Association.— By Electric Telegraph.—'Copyright. , February 3, 10.33 a.m. 1 *■ Fremantle, February 3. A dramatic account is given of the 'destruction of the beautiful sea front '.at Messina called the Palazzata, • owing to its numerous palaces. In the early morning suddenly a terrible •detonation occurred and violent convulsions of both sea and land shook men and things. The sea seamed withrdawn and ships were thrown one against Lines of oscillating lamps waved in tbe tremor and all lights went out and in the suddenly incumbent darkness with an enormous ropr the sea rose to a'height of several metres and then falling again like a monstrous liquid avalanche came with a frightr ful splash on the shore shattering buildings on the harbour front, smashing the pier, breaking tbe embankment and then invading the beautiful promenade, it rushed against the row of monumental palaces on the sea front, knocking them down, disembowelling them, suffocating under its rage thousanas of people surprised in sleep, and at | last retiring dragging with it corpses, i iurniture and goods of all sorts, j The. quays sunk, their walls being j destroyed and the palaces wiped out. - Clouds of dust like a thick fog • enveloped the scene. Those who were not victims of the tidal wave and lived in the inner part of the city or in houses on the hills at the back had been thrown out of bad by tbe formidable shock and most .of them were buried under trembling walls, roofs, balconies, porches and which fell everywhere with tremendous noise. A silence like death followed, then the silence was pierced with the shrieks of the wounded. Dawn was still distant, all lamps were extinguished and the darkness was deepened by clouds of dust. Suddenly pillars of flame blazed out from |the broken gas mains and the fire spread through the ruins, burning beams and furniture and putting a frightful end to the agony of many poor creatures imprisoned under the debris. Clouds of smoke thicker than the dust and red with the sinister reflection of the fire rose turning slowly into the air as from the immense pyre, naked, covered with blood, aghast with terror, tbe few survivors tried to escape from the area of the ruins. Bnt the old familiar ways no more existed. There was no more a trace of streets or corners known from boyhood where Messinese could have walked blindfold. All was chaos; bricks, beams of iron and wood and lime were entangled in the waste of j broken furniture.