DISASTROUS EARTHQUAKE IN ITALY

New Zealand Tablet, 21 January 1915, Page 27

DISASTROUS EARTHQUAKE IN ITALY

TERRIBLE. LOSS OF LIFE

An earthquake, lasting 70 seconds, occurred in Italy on Wednesday morning of last week. The town of Avezzano was completely destroyed, and also all the buildings in the country.

A Rome message states that eighty buildings were damaged in Rome. The colonnade of St. Peter’s suffered considerably, and 150 windows were shattered in the Basilica. The shock was severely felt at the Vatican, and the Pope invited everybody to pray. The column of Marcus Aurelius was broken in various places, and the bas relief has been irreparably damaged.

The belfry of the Church of St. Andrea dello Fratte was badly shaken, and is in danger of falling. The statue of St. Paul fell from the Church of St. John Lateran. The inhabitants of Monte-Rotondo fled in panic. Two storeys of the tower of the Town Hall fell, damaging the lower portion. Two persons were killed, and many injured. Several houses collapsed at Beroli, and there was a number of deaths.

Forty deaths occurred at Aquila and several hundred were injured. The dead bodies and 150 injured have already been taken from the ruins at Isolo del Liri. Many houses collapsed at Sora. Twenty dead bodies were found at Hillalaco, and many victims arc believed to be buried in the debris at the townships of Popoli and Pentima. The inhabitants of Tivoli are camping in the open air.

An official report states that the earthquake was most disastrous in a district with a radius of 100 miles, wnosc centre is probably in the province of Potenza.

The shock was more violent than that at Messina. The great marble cross on the Basilica of St. Paul’s was thrown to the roadway. A glass roof fell in the Chamber of Deputies, burying Ministers’ tables with piles of wreckage.

Many prosperous towns and holiday resorts have been damaged. One train while travelling was derailed by the shock and a number of passengers were injured.

The buildings at Potenza were seriously damaged, but there w r ere few victims. The greatest havoc was in the villages in the district surrounding the extinct volcano of Monte Vulture.

A second shock occured at Rome at three o ’clock on Thursday morning. The inhabitants spent the rest of the night in the open.

Fifty-seven buildings were damaged in Rome, and Cicero’s Tower at Arpino collapsed.

Later messages state that the stricken area is greater than was at first believed. Eighteen small towns in the neighborhood ( of Lake Fucino, which was the centre of the disturbance, have been razed, and twenty damaged.

Half, of Magliano di Mass! has been destroyed, and there are 1300 dead. , '

Three parts of Pescina were destroyed, and 4000 are dead. Three thousand, people at San Benedetto were buried in the ruins.

All the houses at Cappadocia are uninhabitable, and the people are camping in the snow.

Nothing remains of Alba Fuccnsis. It is believed the whole population perished. Of 900 people at Lapelle only 33 are alive. One hundred people were buried at the Church at Custilliri during a funeral service. The rescuers at Sora found seven nuns and a priest killed at the altar during Mass. Sixty bodies were found in the diningroom of a girls’ college at Avezzano. Seven-eigths of the population of Massadalbe and the majority of the population at Cerchios were killed. Large numbers were buried in the churches. Much damage has been done at Subiaco, including the Benedictine Abbey. Seven hundred bodies have been recovered at Sora. It is estimated that 1000 are dead out of the 1800 inhabitants of Avezzano, in the Paterno district ; and 600 out of 1600 at Sampelino, which is practically wiped out. Capella is one heap of ruins. Latest estimates are that there are 30,000 dead at the Abruzzi, including 14,000 in the Avezzano district. Lloyds News correspondent reports that the earthquake entirely destroyed IS Italian towns and villages, While in 13 others there is scarcely a building intact, and a dozen others have been damaged. During the 24 hours 98 shocks ■were experienced, completing the demolition of walls.