THE WORLD'S MOST CRUEL EARTHQUAKE 



377 



THE CATASTROPHE CAME) WHEN EVERY- 

 ONE WAS ASEEEP 



The earthquake occurred on Monday 

 morning, the 28th of December, at 5.23, 

 while it was still dark and most of the in- 

 habitants of the unfortunate towns were 

 still sleeping. It came without warning; 

 the shock was intense and widespread ; 

 it lasted 35 seconds, and during this small 

 space of time most of the stupendous de- 

 struction of life and property took place. 

 For several weeks preceding it slight 

 shocks were felt in the vicinity of Mes- 

 sina, and subsequent shocks of consider- 

 able magnitude occurred on January 2, at 

 9.40 p. m., and January 5, at 12.10 p. m. 

 The intensity was greatest at the north 

 entrance to the straits, and its amplitude 

 became rapidly less with increasing dis- 

 tance from this central point. 



The vastness of the catastrophe in loss 

 of life has hardly a parallel in the his- 

 tory of earthquake tragedies, and it is 

 difficult indeed to conceive such an over- 

 whelming disaster in so short a time. 



The submarine cable was broken and 

 all telegraphic communication was cut 

 off, so that the first news of the disaster 

 was dispatched at the time by one of the 

 torpedo boats lying in the harbor. It im- 

 mediately got up steam and raced up the 

 Calabria coast to find a telegraph station 

 intact, where the tale might be told and 

 the call for aid given. All this took 

 time, and it was night before Rome 

 learned of what had happened in the 

 southern portion of her peninsula. 



The terrible news then traveled to all 

 parts of the world, but they were only 

 first reports and believed by most readers 

 to be much overestimated. Headlines 

 then appeared in the newspapers giving 

 impossible accounts of the disaster; the 

 whole coast line was reported to have 

 been altered and adjacent towns swept 

 away; it was said that deep chasms ap- 

 peared in the city streets ; that entire 

 areas were overturned ; roads and rail- 

 ways twisted and bridges uprooted. A 

 grand eruption of Etna and the disap- 

 pearance of the ^olian Islands were also 



vividly pictured and the subsequent tidal 

 wave and destruction by fire exaggerated. 



But in view of these mythical state- 

 ments, that of the great destruction of 

 people, the most heartrending of all, was, 

 alas, not falsely reported. Though it is 

 not possible even now to state accurately 

 the loss of life, it is probable that the 

 death roll of Messina alone will reach 

 100,000, that of Reggio 20,000, and of 

 San Giovanni and other villages 30,000. 



One survivor told me that he was sud- 

 denly awakened by a loud rumbling, with 

 the sensation of being lifted up and 

 swayed back and forth in the air, only to 

 be let down again by jerks and jars. 

 Another, who was on the street at the 

 time of the earthquake, said that he first 

 heard a low, whistling sound in the dis- 

 tance, which gradually grew louder and 

 louder, and finally broke forth into a 

 roar. The earth seemed to move in all 

 directions at once, and it was impossible 

 to stand. 



Soon after this bewildering blow, 

 which was accompanied by thunder-like 

 rumblings of the earth and the crushing 

 noise of falling towers and buildings, a 

 dead silence spread over the city, only to 

 be broken later by the shrieks of the 

 wounded. It was pitch dark, and even 

 the corner street lights were extinguished 

 because of a breaking of the gas pipes. 

 It was raining and a southeast wind was 

 blowing. The uninjured rushed to the 

 streets, but knew not which way to turn, 

 and stood about helpless and often with- 

 out clothes. 



THE TIDAE WAVE WAS NOT PARTICULARLY 

 DESTRUCTIVE 



Directly after the shock the sea re- 

 ceded a short distance from the shore, 

 but soon advanced again in the form of a 

 foaming tidal wave 8 feet high at Mes- 

 sina and 12 to 15 feet high at Reggio. 

 At Messina it washed over the neck of 

 land forming the harbor, destroying the 

 breakwater, leaving small boats stranded 

 high above the shore-line and dashing a 

 Russian steamer of 2,000 tons from its 

 berth in the dry dock back into the bay, 



