A CITY IN RUINS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3093, 27 May 1881, Page 4

A CITY IN RUINS.

(Special Rome Correspondence o? The Pilot )

Within the la&t few hours the attention of all people in Eome has been directed to the Bay of Naples, and to an event which has brought sadness and desolation to one of the sweetest spots in that most lovely region. On Friday afternoon the Prefect of Maples received a telegram from the Syndic or Mayor of the little town of Casamicciola, in the Island of Ischia, conceived in the following terms : —' Horrible earthquake—send forces and help.' At a few seconds after one on the afternoon of that day a fearful shock of earthquake with both anundulatory and perpendicular motion, which lasted for seven seconds, was felt on the northern side of the island. When it passed over, the town of Casamicciola and the neighboring village of Lacco Ameno were almost wholly destroyed. An eye witness gives the following account of this terribly- interesting and disastrous occurrence. On the church in the principal square of the town is a large clock ; at the moment when the earthquake occurred the hands of the clock marked thirty seconds after one, and at that hour the clock stopped. In an instant all the upper part of the smiling island was levelled to the dust. From the hotel of the Piccolo, Sentinella one may count, not the houses which have fallen, but those few which with walls split by rents, are still left standing. It is calculated that three hundred houses have been destroyed. The districts of the city literally yuined are—Purgatoria, Casamennella, and Majo. In these not one house has escaped the general destruction. Only less ruined than those in these quarters are the houses of Casa Rivera, where gome buildings are safe.

The scene which occurred at the moment of the disaster is never to be forgotton by those who witnessed it. Suddenly there was a fearful crash heard ; the people who were in-doors were covered by the fallen aruine; those who were in the streets and escaped danger were stupifled and rendered helpless by terror at the frightful spectacle. From all sides were heard heart-rendering cries and agonised groans. It is thought that more than a hundred persons have perished. The number of dead found up to the moment I write surpasses 60, and the number of wounded nearly 80. A woman found beneath a grear stone had still her child at the breast ; both mother and child were dead, and norribly disfigured. Another woman had her child in her arms at the moment of the earthquake, and though she escaped miraculously the infant is nowhere to be found. Three young girls who had escaped death, clashed in amongst the falling houses to search for their mother. They found only her mutilated dead body. An old man 70 years of age was buried beneath a heap of stones ; he was found on Saturday at 10 o'clock. A poor man, after sevj; A hours' hard work, succeeded in digging his son, aged three years, out of the ruins.

In erevy fallen house, under each heap of rubbish, a corpse was found, or still more terrible, the remains of bruised and mutilated bodies.