EARTHQUAKE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3080, 30 December 1908, Page 5

EARTHQUAKE.

MUCH LOSS OF LIFE.

GREAT DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY.

MANY PEOPLE INJURED. Received December 29, 8.45 a.m. ROME, December 28. A severe earthquake, causing great destruction o' ! property and much loss of life, has occurred in Southern Italy. Three persons were killed and sixty injured at Stcfanaconi, in Calabria, and two killed at San Grecorio. Many were injured in other Calabrian hamlets. There lias also been great destruction of property and loss of life at Catania and in other Sicilian towns. TWO-THIRDS OF MESSINA DESTROYED. THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE KILLED. EXTENSIVE DAMAGE DONE. HUNDREDS OF HOUSES COLLAPSE. A TIDAL WAVE. TWO SUBURBS REPORTED TO HAVE DISAPPEARED. TERRIBLE SCENES. Received December 29, 11.35 p.m. ROME, December 29. Two-thirds of the city of Messina (the second city of Sicily, standing on the western shore of the Strait of Messina, 195 miles from Naples) was destroyed.

Thousands of persona are reported to have been killed.

Much pillaging followed the calamity. Hundreds of houses collapsed. The captain of the frigate Passino was buried among the ruins of a falling house.

All the warships at Naples have been ordered to Mesnina with relief. King Victor Emmanual is proceeding there.

Extensive damage was done at Bagnara (a coast town 16 miles north-east of Reggio), Gioia, Pal ma (a town in Sicily 14 miles south-east of Gergenti), and other towns, where the residents are encamping in the fields.

The shock was of very long duration, and of frightful' intensity. It was feared that there would be a repetition of the disaster of 1905.

A tidal wave overran most of Messina, leaving a layer of mud, rendering it very difficult to extricate the injured. Fires occurred owing to a gas explosion. It is reported that Faro and Ganzini. suburbs of Messina, have disappeared.

Violent shocks occurred between half-past five o'clock, and six o'clock in the morning at Catatizaro (a city in South Italy 326 miles south-east of Naples), Ifeggio K a seaport of South Italy, standing .in the Strait ot Messina, nine miles south-east «rf the city of Messina),, ar.d Dicalabria. The terrified inhabitants half clothed were aroused from their sleep, and poured into the streets, where rain was falling. The prisoners in several gaols became panic-stricken, and smashed the doors and windows until soldiers were summoned and restored order.

Terrible scenes were witnessed at Catania (a seaport of Sicily near the foot of Mt. Etna, 59 miles from Messina), where the patients in an asyium were seized with panic.