GRAPHIC PICTURE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 269, 13 November 1928, Page 7

GRAPHIC PICTURE.

5000 Families Left Homeless By

Disaster.

NO SIGN OF CESSATION.

(Australian and N.Z. Press Association.)

(Received 1.30 p.m.)

LONDON, November 12

A graphic picture of Etna's desolation is contained in a special article cabled to the "Evening Standard" from Sicily. The disaster has rendered 5000 families homeless, has wiped out three towns and 760 houses, besides 2700 acres and seven years' wine crop; has withered one of the world's richest lemon tree valleys, buried bridges and railways, and roads have been overwhelmed.

The eruption continues unabated. Great clouds of smoke and fire belch out from a new crater far from the summit. The correspondent followed the lava stream for six miles, starting a few hundred yards from the crater, where there is intense heat, and it is at a standstill. "A smoke pall a mile high overhangs the crater. Now and again a gigantic wall of fire sweeps skywards. The air is thick with small pellets of hot rocks, while a red wave spills over the edge and forces its way downward. Each gust adds a thousand tons to the stream, which means that it progresses at least five yards further.

"After a five-hours walk I reached Mascali. Here there is a solid wall 100 feet high vertically across the one-time town square. Only seven houses are left. Meanwhile the stream is flowing on eastward of it with a roar and smoke that are unceasing, as trees and isolated houses are devoured.

"Carraba is as yet untouched, although its doom is sealed. The lava to-day is on the outskirts. There is the utmost difficulty to induce the peasants to leave. The evacuation provides a more pathetic sight than the desolation. It is impossible to forecast a cessation. Last night wae quieter but to-day is again very active. The township of Giarre must be saved at all costs. Happily, its danger is not immediate, as the stream will very profoably reach the sea and form a new headland, just as it did at the neighbouring headland 4000 years ago.