Ground to Powder

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 188, 18 January 1915, Page 4

Ground to Powder

THE FATE OF AVEZZANO. *££; HOUSES HURLED TO THE GRJUND. ~?• f. 1 . |l A SCENE OF DEVASTATION DEATH. VICTIMS BURNED ALIVE. Keceived 17, 1.45 p.m. /,/ Rome,- January 16. 'The disaster .surpasses that of sina in the low percentage of survivors*. Only two or three per cent, escaped at*' Avezzano, while thirty.per cent survive ed at Messina; The violence of the quake was unprecedented. A carter wa9 s passing' fifty, yards from a lioum thirty feet highf when the housej was liteially hurled against him, burying the horse ttnd eartj Avezzano,was ground to powder as by a gigantic machine ( oipses are putiifying, as the whole attention is devoted to encouraging the wounded under the ruins. The rescue 1s at the outset were so few' that they couldn't do more than mark the spots while voices vtere heard. When help was fnithcoimng the voices were silent. Two girls, protect( d under a piano, implored help for tvio days They were slowly asphyxiated by dust. Fires broke out at sevual points, and sonje were iindoubtulh burned alive. The fire also compltted the destructioa of Maghane. SOME TRAGIC INCIDENtS. . t TOWNS ALMOST WIPED OUT. HUNDREDS KILLED IN THE CHURCHES. Received 17, 5 5 p.m. Home, January 16. A hundred people were Jjuned in ti church at Custilliri during'-a' funeral service. Rescuers at Sora- found seven nulla and a priest who h id be en killed at tluj altar during the communion. Sixty bodies were found in the wreckage of a' room at the Girls' College at Avezzano. Seven-eighths of the'-- population'at Massadalbe, and the majority of Hut population at Ceichios were killed. Large" numbers were buried under the churchefc. Much damage was caused at Subiaeo, in* eluding the Rcncdictinc Abbey. Seven hundred bodies have been rei covered from Sora. { < DEATH-ROLL OF, 30,000. ■ ' ;y. •' " $ !fn', i A COUNT'S PLUCKY RESCUE WORK. Received 17, 5.5 p.m.' ; Rome, January 18. i It is estimated that one thousand are] , dead out of eighteen hundred .inhatdn 1 tants of Avezzano, in the Paterno dfe* trict, and six hundred out of sixteen hundred at Lnmpelino, which is. prae- | tically wiped out. Capella is one heap of ruins. ' The latest estimate gives''thirty'thou* ; sand dead in the Abruzzi, including fourteen thousand in the Avezzano district* Countess Besta and her five sons were! ; rescued alive at Avezzano. The Count , clung to the ruins of the palace, and ' 'spurned condolences. He worked tenaciously for two days and night to' [ extricate his family. ■ f f ■ c .■ " . .".. WHOLE COMMUNITIES [ DESTROYED. J By Cable—Press Association—Copyright i Rome, January IS.

Half of Magliano di Marsi was destroyed and 1300 persona were killed. Three parts of Pescina were destroyed, and 4000 people, are dead. Three thou-" sand at San Benedetto were juried is the ruins. All the houses at Cappadpci*' are uninhabitable, and people are camping in the snow. Nothing remains ofi Albafuconsis, and it is believed thg whole of the population perished. <M 900 at .Lapelle only 30 are alive, Th«f King has gone to Sora, where there id little hope of rescuing the buried.

SHOCK RECORDED IN AUSTRAIJAj Received 18, 12.5 a.m. Sydney, January 17. b itmographs at 'Sydney and Mel< bourne disclosed slight earth tremors corresponding with the time of the' Italian earthquake.

RELIEF WORK CONTINUES. A CEMETERY OPENS UP. ; Received IS, 1.25 am. Rome, January 17. Relief continues under the most dangerous conditions. Great crevasses have appeared in tbS cemetery at Soro, whence masses of boiling water are thrown up. '