1908 Messina earthquake and tsunami
Aftermath of the Messina earthquake and tsunami
Earthquake
On December 28, 1908 from about 05.20 to 05.21 an
earthquake of 7.2 on the
moment magnitude scale occurred centered on the of city
Messina, in
Sicily.
Reggio Calabria on the Italian mainland also suffered heavy damage. The ground shook for some 30 to 40 seconds, and the destruction was felt within a 300 km radius. Moments after the earthquake, a 12 m
tsunami struck nearby coasts causing even more devastation. 91% of structures in Messina were destroyed and some 70000 residents were killed.
Rescuers searched through the rubble for weeks, and whole families were still being pulled out alive days later, but thousands remained buried there.
Buildings in the area had not been constructed for earthquake resistance, having heavy roofs and vulnerable foundations.
Relief efforts
News of the disaster was carried by Italian torpedo boats to
Nicotera, where the telegraph lines were still working, but that was not accomplished until midnight at the end of the day. Rail lines in the area had been destroyed, often along with the railway stations.
The Italian navy and army responded and began searching, treating the injured, and evacuating refugees (as did every ship). Looters soon had to be shot. King
Victor Emmanuel III and the Queen arrived.
The disaster made headlines worldwide and international relief efforts were launched. With the help of the
Red Cross and sailors of the Russian and British fleets, search and cleanup were expedited. The British
battleship Exmouth and the
cruisers Euryalus,
Minerva, and
Sutlej were ordered to provide assistance; the
SS Afonwen was in Messina harbor during the quake (anchored in 45 fathoms (80 m) of water, but there were only 30 fathoms (55 m) when she sailed full of refugees). The French battleships
Justice and
Vérité, and three torpedo boat destroyers were ordered to Messina. The U.S.
Great White Fleet and her supply ships
Celtic and
Culgoa were also ordered to assist. Russian ships included the
Slava,
Tsesarevich, and
Admiral Makarov. Other nations' ships also responded.
The earthquake was caused by normal
faulting between
plates. Italy sits along the boundary zone of the
African Continental plate
and this plate is pushing against the seafloor underneath Europe at a
rate of 1-inch (25 mm) per year. This causes vertical displacement which
in turn can cause earthquakes.
Recently it has been proposed that the concurrent tsunami was not
generated by the earthquake, but rather by a large undersea landslide it
triggered. There were also several fires that destroyed houses and
turned them to rubble.
Aftermath
In the years following 1908, precautions were taken when reconstruction
began, building architecture that would be able to withstand earthquakes
of variable magnitude, if one should strike again. In the midst of
reconstruction many of the Italian residents were relocated to various
parts of Italy. Others were forced to emigrate to
America. In 1909 the cargo ship
Florida carried 850 such passengers away from Naples. Lost in a dense fog, the
Florida collided with the
Republic, a luxury passenger liner. Three people aboard the
Florida were killed instantly. Within minutes, pandemonium broke out on the ship. The captain of the
Florida,
Angelo Ruspini, used extreme measures to regain control of the
desperate passengers, including firing gunshots into the air. Eventually
the survivors were rescued at sea and brought into the New York harbor
where they would start a new life.
