THE EARTHQUAKE AT ISCHIA

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6813, 18 September 1883, Page 6

THE EARTHQUAKE AT ISCHIA

[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] London, August 9. The fearful catastrophe which has befallen the beautiful island of Ischia, in the Bay of Naples, the favourite watering place of the Roman nobles, where between 5000 or 6000 visitors and inhabitants have been buried in the ruins of the overthrown towns, still constitutes a prominent subject of interest. Nearly a week after the earthquake no complete exhumation of the living and the dead has been possible. Under the almost tropical heat of an Italian summer, decomposition has been bo rapid that a pestilential outbreak was only avoided by coveriag the ruins with a strong solution of quicklime. It is almost impossible to couvey an adequateimpression of the ruin which has overtaken this lovely spot, but the following graphic details which have been published afford some idea:—"The very topography of Casamicciola, with its surroundings covered with pretty villas, and hotels, is absolutely obliterated. It is scarcely possible, even for oue well acquainted with the place, to indicate the lines where the roads, the pleasant walks, the paths through the vineyards once ran. The ground is rent in long deep fissures several inches in width. Here and there have been landslips, and large trees, carried half-way down, are hanging horizontally from their sides, with telegraph wires still extended from them. The great majority of the houses and villas are reduced to unrecognisable heap 3 of ruins —to great mounds of building refuse, but formed of fragments for the most part far too massive for any human hand to lift. Projecting from them are beams of woo:}, doors split in two, large fragments of boarded floors, household utensils, and smashed furniture. But among tttfcSO utter wrecks, there are here and there great corners of houses, standing in perilons condition enough, hut still erect, and in some of them the lower rooms are intact. The hundred-ton guns of all the navies of Europe could not have produced such complete destruction as ha 3 befallen this place. There is nothing to be seen but heaps of raiuß, Which can only be likened to the work of the Titans occupied in throwing rubbish on one side and the other." It has now transpired that on the morning of July 24 subterranean thunder was heard on the island, accompanied by a slight trembling of the ground, but the inhabitants, anxious not to alarm the thousands of visitors, made light of these symptoms of approaching danger. An old man ol seventy, who warned the Bishop of the island of an impending catastrophe, was treated as an idiot. It is pleasant to record many acts of heroism on the part of both rescuers and rescued. The Italian soldier*, cheered by the presence and sympathy of their King, have beon indefatigable in their exertions to rescue the unfortunates buried in the ruins. After four and five days of semi-sepulchral existence men and women have been dug out alive. Even children of tenderest year 3 have been rescued from places where they were entombed, and have greeted their saviours with an infantile smile. The survivors ramble about in an aimless way, and many have become insane. The sufferers were generally so stupefied with the shock that they for a time lost almost all sensation. They underwent severe amputations and operations without uttsring a sound. The uninjured persons who began to drop into the public square early on the morning succeeding the earthquake appeared perfectly crazed. One man, a lemonade seller, who had with his own hands dug out the corpses of his three children, neither wept nor gave any other sign of emotion, but offered the lemonade to passers-by, refusing payment. A woman who underwent an operation with perfect calmness merely said when it was fiuished, "I had five children, and they are all dead, eren the baby of eighteen months, who was so pretty." Another, meeting an acquaintance, said in a quite ordinary tone, "My father, mother, and three of my children are dead." Another led a little girl by the hand, saying, " Your mother and brothers are dead, and now we two are alone." No one screamed, no one cried. A Neapolitan gentleman who had lost his two daughters sat on the seabeach immovable a3 a statue. The Duke and Duchess of Calabritto sat calmly awaiting till the corpse of their little son should be excavated ; and the Duchess, whtn asked if she had any other children, replied with a simple "No." Some grotesque scenes were not wanting amid the tragedy. An actor escaped and arived inNaplts in tne costumeof Pulcinello. Some slightly-clad ladies caught up theatrical robes for warmth. A prisst was carried to the atnbulanco covered with a woman's gowu. All the wounded were white as chalk with the dust; mo3t were half-dressed and with bare feet. One woman who was dug out would not leave the place because her little dog was still there. Another held fast a cane with a canary. Another, when the soaliers had made a hole large enough to get her through, held out her hands, saying, "Take this hen first," King "Humbert, at the imminent risk of beiog ovi rnhelmed by the falling rains, insisted upon making a thorough examination of the scene of the disaster, and exhibited a ready sympathy with the sufferers, which hai greatly enhanced his personal popularity. He gave 100,000 francs towards the relief of the distressed. The actual shock of earthquake does not appear to have been violent, I but the soil of the island ha 3 boen so hollowed out and tunnelled by the sollaterras or hot ' springs with which it abonuds, that a very slight movement converted the towns into heaps of ruins The menacing activity since displayed by Mount Vesuvius has quite unnerved the Neapolitans. Several false alarms of "II terremoti" have been raised, and the panic-stricken inhabitants have rushed from their houses and fled for safety to the public squares, A young Englishman, named Louis is the hero of the hour at Ischia. By his indomitable energy and personal bravery he saved many lives. The King thanked him warmly for his services.