January 7, lyogj 



NA TURE 



j89 



was heavy rain at iilglu u\d all Tuesday, when llure was 

 also a high wind. 



Almost immediately after llic (artliquaUe the very cold 

 weather in northern Russia -uddenly changed, and the 

 weather resumed its normal state. 



Affectkd Area. 



The sea-wall in front of the city of Messina has been 

 brolven up and has fallen, and tlie sea-walk has sunk 

 under the water. Prof. \. Ricco, the director of the 

 observatorv at Catania, slates that the docks and other 

 harbour works at .Messina have sunk to the level of the 

 water. 



At Reggio the destruction seems to be even more com- 

 plete than at Messina, for the whole of the city has been 

 razed to the gjround. The greater part of the sea front 

 is under water. The whole area of the ground below 

 Reggio seemed to have turned over, and a great part of 

 the city is in ruins, covered by the sea. In many places 

 deep chasms appeared in the streets. Of all the villages 

 looking towards Reggio on the coast, not one has been 

 left standing. 



The Prefect of Reggio states that the centre of the 

 town has settled down to the sea-level, and only the small 

 villas on the promenade between Reggio and Carapi, 

 situated on the highest point of the town, remain standing. 

 The sea front has been swept away, while the water in 

 shore is blocked with sunken debris. Access by sea is 

 impossible, and the town cannot be approached by land, as 

 for n radius of eleven miles the country has a torn and 

 twisted appearance, roads, bridges, footpaths, and railway 

 lines being uprooted. The face of the country has changed, 

 and big fissures in the land have appeared. 



The greatest damage was done in the low-lying and 

 unfortunately most important portions, but both at Reggio 

 and Messina this seems to have been due to the actual 

 shock of the earthquake. The subsequent wave flooding 

 the lower houses is said to have risen gently, and does 

 not appear to have added much to the total damage. 



In Reggio all the new houses of not more than 32 feet 

 in height have resisted the shock completely. The houses 

 .-ilong the Via Marina and the Corso Garibaldi on the sea 

 front fell down to the first floor. Many of the old houses 

 lost their walls on the side which faced the sea to the 

 north. The new dwellings erected at Fcrruzzano by the 

 Milan Committee after 1905 have suffered no damage, 

 though they were severely shaken ; this is attributed more 

 10 the f.ict of their limited height than to their special 

 construction. 



The .Admiral-Superintendent of Malta Dockyard has re- 

 iiuested the Collector of Customs to make it known that 

 the statement that the Straits of Messina are unrecog- 

 nisable is incorrect. The topography of the Straits is 

 said by him to be un.altcred. 



.\ message fro.m Rome on December 30 states that the 

 submarine cable with the Ionian Isles is broken, and it is 

 feared that the e;irlhqu.ike may have caused damage in 

 (he group. 



The commander of a lorpedo-boat, which was sent to 

 inspect the Lipari Islands, has informed the Ministry of 

 Marine that the shock of December 28 was very severe, 

 md that several buildings were cracked, but that no one 

 ,v.is killed. 



Prof. Ricco informed a correspondent of the Daily Mail 

 'hat the earthquake had its maximum violence in Sicily 



111 at the southern point of Calabria. The ruin spread 

 in Castroreale, in Sicily, to Palmi, in Calabria, or a 



~i.mce of forty miles. Damage to buildings occurred 

 »rom Riposto and Patti, in Sicily, to Pizzo, in Calabria, 

 s distance of eighty-si.\ miles. The earthquake was felt 

 violently from Mistrclta and Noto (Sicily) to Cosenza 

 fCalabri.a), a distance of 186 miles. It was felt, though 

 ■onlv slightly, at Marsala and Trapani (Sicily), and even 

 In Naples. 



Taormina has escaped unscathed, except that the hotel 

 San Domenico, occupying the site of the old Dominican 

 monastery, has been somewhat damaged. 



SiiisMOGRAPfiic Records. 

 The seismographic instruments at Laibach Observaloiy 

 legistered the earthquake at 5.22 and 6 a.m. Of twelve 



XO. 2045, VOL. 79] 



instruments, only one was able completely to register the 

 successive shocks, as the oscillations were more violent 

 ihan the instruments could measure. The maximum 

 oscillation was registered at 5h. 2bm. i6s. The seismic 

 commotion noted at Ekaterinburg, and other observations, 

 indicate that the wave of the disturbance moved south-west 

 to north-east Europe. 



The seismograph at Perth Observatory, Western 

 .Australia, recorded the earthquake, showing vibrations 

 apparently at two periods of maximum intensity. 



Subsequent Disturbances. 



.\ slight further shock was felt at Palermo on 

 December 30. There was a more violent shock at San 

 Marco Argentino during the night of December 29, accom- 

 panied by prolonged subterranean noise. Many houses 

 were damaged, among them the church and the public 

 buildings. 



Shocks, less severe but always accompanied by sub- 

 terranean rumbling, were felt in many places in Calabria 

 during December 31. 



Two earthquake shocks were felt at .Algiers at about 

 6.30 p.m. on January i. The shocks lasted about three 

 minutes, and damaged some telephone wires. 



Etna, Stromboli, and \'ulcano were quiescent before and 

 throughout the earthquake disturbance. On January 3, 

 however, at 5.22 a.m., a violent shock of earthquake last- 

 ing three seconds was felt in the island of Stromboli. It 

 was accompanied by an eruption of the volcano and pro- 

 longed subterranean rumblings. Buildings were seriously 

 damaged, many houses being rendered uninhabitable. 



At 11.44 P-"''- °" January 4 a shock of earthquake was 

 felt at Tenerife, lasting twelve seconds. Bells were rung 

 in the houses, and furniture was overthrown. 



Summary of Phenomena. 



The Rome correspondent of the Times gives the follow- 

 ing details of the earthquake in telegrams on January 2 

 and 4 : — .Among the phenomena which accompanied the 

 movement the most notable is the wave which swept both 

 shores of the Straits. The accounts as to the height to 

 which the sea rose vary enormously. At Riposto, on the 

 Sicilian coast, it was said to be 10 metres high. That 

 seems to be an exaggerated estimate, and no doubt more 

 exact knowledge will be soon forthcoming. .All the 

 survivors speak of the subterranean rumbling sound, which 

 they generally describe as a dull roar that seemed beneath 

 and around them, simultaneous with the first shock, and 

 lasting during the subsequent shocks. Of the number, 

 frequency, and violence of the subsequent shocks there are 

 again very varying accounts. The apparatus in the 

 Observatory of Mileto, Calabria, had registered twenty- 

 eight shocks before it was destroyed, ^'ast fissures in the 

 ground are reported at both Reggio and Messina. At 

 Messina some eye-witnesses declared that the ground 

 seemed to throw out stones, which were hurled to a con- 

 siderable distance. The weather conditions of those days 

 have their significance. There was a marked depression 

 in the extreme south of Italy two days before. On both 

 December 27 and 28 it rained, and on the night of 

 December 27 it rained in torrents. Rain fell again .it 

 intervals throughout Monday and Tuesday (December 28 

 and 29), and on the latter day it was accompanied by a 

 violent wind. 



Prof. G. B. Rizzo, who fortunately escaped from his 

 fallen observatory at Messina, states that the action of 

 the sea wave has been much exaggerated. In his opinion, 

 the shock on the Sicilian side of the Straits caused a 

 movement nf water against the Calabrian side, followed 

 bv a re-flow against the Sicilian side and Messina, naturally 

 with less violence. Very little loss, he thinks, was caused 

 bv the wave at Messina, w^here the sea hardly advanced 

 ten yards beyond the sea-wall. What is really remark- 

 able, and should be the object of careful study, is the 

 raising of the level of the seashore ; Prof. Rizzo noticed 

 that several boats anchored some distance from shore were 

 left high and dry. On the other hand, the ground has 

 sunk in some places in the cily, notably near the Municipal 

 Palace and Via Seminario, where in one place it has 

 fallen eleven vards. 



