’QUAKE’S BIG DEATH ROLL

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1033, 25 July 1930, Page 1

’QUAKE’S BIG DEATH ROLL

Italy’s Night of Terror HURRICANE and tidal waves Million Persons Are Homeless gecd. 11.25 a.m. ROME, Thursday. AH official statement says the number of deaths as the result of the violent earthquake which shook southern Italy yesterday is 1,778, and the injured number 4,264. Correspondents say, however, that 3,000 have died. Airplanes are sweeping the devastated areas and directing the searchers. A terrific hurricane at Naples added to the terror. Trees and cottages were blown down and gigantic waves pounded over the promenades.

A British United Press correspondent at Benevento estimates after a personal survey that 1,000,000 are homeless in the stricken area. The towns of Villa Nova, Albanese, ArUno and Monte Calvo are completely destroyed, while Zungoli- and San Sossio have been evacuated by the entire surviving population. The towns of Lacedonia, Azuilonia and Bisasscia are almost completely destroyed. Hardly a single inhabitant escaped Injury. Perhaps the most curious fact is that none were killed at Candela,, despite the fact that 90 per cent, of the buildings are uninhabitable. Relief in the shape of tents, food sad blankets is being brought in rapidlyThe search is continuing for bodies, coffins being hastily constructed from patting cases. Funerals are being hurried on, as the town authorities fear an epidemic. The majority of the children at MelH lost their parents. The whole population of the little kill town are living out of doors. HEAT WAVE, TOO The earthquakes were also accompanied by a terrific heat wave throughout Southern Italy. Houses completely destroyed numbered 3,188 and those partially destroyed totalled. 2,757. Two hundred bodies were recovered it Melfl. At Naples there were relatively few casualties, though the poorer buildings suffered badly. The Duchess of Aosta vas early among the rescue workers. Ske set out from Naples Immediately nth a Red Cross train in the hope tkat her presence would reassure the frightened populace. Tens of thousands of terror-stricken citliens of Naples gathered on the way sides expecting an eruption from ht Vesuvius. Refugees from Melfi tell tragic stories. They say the people bekaved a* though under the belief that the end of the world had come. 1# some cases women seemed to have died of terror as there was no Tisible injury on their bodies. FEAR OF VOLCANO At Potenza the historic palace of be Emperor Frederick 11. collapsed •ad numbers of persons were burled b the ruins. There were five more violent shakes ? “®lfl in the afternoon causing "•ttner loss of life. This town lies 2J the foot of the volcano Vultur, 'klch has been extinct for thousands Pt Tsars. A report that the volcano Is giving °f activity has added to the n”*? 1 terror ' especially as it is remembered that Melfi was destroyed by * tsrrible earthquake in 1851, when ~jy*«ndg of people were killed. tuny pathetic incidents occurred tori; One man at Naples was struck Vhb owing to the shock of seeing r* «ged mother and small daughter "2* crushed by a falling ceiling. Riom * were terrible scenes at mero, where many children in an rrpts home were injured. One woman »itk 3 0uret * to Protect three children “® r body, but all were killed. HUSH FOR OPEN SPACE *n« e B k° cks experienced at Naples Uton h 6 worst * n living memory, tin 1? were not comparable with 1&0Q B# * na earth( l uake of December, Soasezcoliapsed in all parts of the >iiv« , 0 streeta were immediately opaj, terrified people seeking *®Blor?j? CeS or churches, where they the clergy to bring out images. cron.,, . r °f the public was in--Bevera-l short circuits in tka .ild. , 0 supply system plunging 'city into darkness. PRed wiTs 1 ’ streets were quickly Ron .idil, v ®hicles of every descrip- - ISS wildly hither and thither, era! beln S run over in the genM»r~ mPe<ie - Cor 4ed incidents are reRom were slow in reach- * ' o^«nTmion O s. the dlsruptlon ln Rilled in their sleep •tMorf?.,!?.! airlne n have been sent to ““" report the extent of the 0 “ e Prime Minister, Signor victims were peasants bhahL , n ® ur Prised in their sleep and C ® pe front collapsing walls. **>» |ji a Proper computation of ÜB.jT 11 *? w ill be almost imposHursT" the wreckage has been United Press correspond-

ent, Mr. Thomas Morgan, telegraphing to London from Benevento, puts a much more serious complexion on the earthquake disaster than the official accounts would indicate. Mr. Morgan states that 2,000 dead were extricated from the ruins of Villa Nova Albanese by soldiers who had been rushed to the scene. When he reached Benevento hundreds of bodies had been buried and hundreds of others were awaiting interment lying on stretchers covered wl*h cloths. From the ruins the bodies of old and young were still being extricated. These are being buried as fast as they are recovered. THOUSANDS DEAD Injured people were lying on stretchers awaiting lorries to take them to Avellino. One peasant at Villa Nova Albanese said to Mr. Morgan: “There were 3,000 people in the town and only two of us can be found now. They are all under the ruins.” Villa Nova del Bfattista, w-hich is a suburb of Villa Nova Albanese, exists no more. Some of the survivors are so demented that they cannot state to what family they belong. One septuagenarian was found wildly mourning the loss of his six grown-up children. His only other son lives In the United States. A British Official Wireless Message from Rugby says a statement issued in Rome by the Italian Under-Secre tary, Signor Leoni, say that in the province of Avellino, where 1.392 persons are reported to have been killed, damage has been caused in 30 communes. BRITAIN’S SYMPATHY MESSAGES TO MUSSOLINI British Official Wireless Reed. 12.20 p.m. RUGBY, Thursday. The Prime Minister, Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, has dispatched the follow ing telegram to Signor Mussolini: "Please accept this expression of my deep personal sympathy with your self with the Italian people, and particularly with the sufferers and the bereaved.” The sympathy of the British Government was conveyed in a telegram sent to the Italian Government by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, as follows: —“The Government has learnt with horror of the earth quake in Southern Italy, and desires to express its deep sympathy with the Italian Government and people. It begs that the expresison of its con dolence may be conveyed to the relatives of the victims of this terrible calamity.” FURTHER SHOCKS RIVERS RISE TO FLOODS Reed. 1.40 p.m. ROME, Thursday. Further earthquakes occurred today. They were not violent, but they caused many tottering houses to collapse. Rivers have risen to flood height, though no rain has fallen.