218 



ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1915. 



of buildings, a ruin which became even more serious because of other 

 eddying motions due to the combination of longitudinal and trans- 

 versal vibrations coming from the depths of the hypocenter to the 

 epicenter at the surface of the ground. 



The number of victims of the earthquake is estimated at more than 

 25,000. The greater part of the cities, market towns, and villages 

 in the region affected were entirely destroyed, being reduced to vast 

 heaps of ruins, among which rescuers went in, braving the great 

 dangers and with a fine disregard of self, to the aid of those caught 

 in the ruins. One of the cities where the shocks were most destruc- 



COMP. w^o'S -f^O'N 



lJ^\M/\^M 



\ 



<i^jy~j? V c'^r,'^. 



Fig. 3. — Seismogram of the earlhquake of Jan. 13, 1915, recorded at the Seismological Observatory 



of Cartuja, in Granada. 



tive was Avezzano, as shown by the two accompanying photographs 

 reproduced on plate 1 ; from a population of 13,000 inhabitants only 

 2,300 were saved. Several persons still living were found after a 

 long imprisonment underground, and among these the most ex- 

 traordinary case is that of a peasant who, having taken refuge under 

 an arch of his ruined stable, lived for 21 days, having for nourish- 

 ment only a little water which leaked through the ruins, and he came 

 forth from his prison in quite good condition. 



This frightful disaster, which wiped out one of the most beautiful 

 and thriving regions of Italy, has excited eveiTwhere the waimest 

 expressions of sympathy for a country so grievously stricken. Be- 

 fore the immensity of this misfortune the Government and citizens of 

 Italy have united in a great charitable effort to aid the victims of 

 this new calamity and to assure the life and future of the devastated 

 region. 



