Messina, Italy - 1908 Earthquake - Guardia di Finanza barracks ruin - postcard

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• Picture / Image:  Messina - Rovine della Caserma delle Guardie di Finanza (ruin of the barracks)  - This is the 1908 Messina Earthquake
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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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The 1908 Messina earthquake (also known as the 1908 Messina and Reggio earthquake^[3]) occurred on 28 December in Sicily and Calabria, southern Italy with a moment magnitude of 7.1 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). The cities of Messina and Reggio Calabria were almost completely destroyed and between 75,000 and 200,000 lives were lost.

On Monday 28 December 1908, from about 05:20 to 05:21, an earthquake of 7.1 on the moment magnitude scale occurred. Its epicentre was in the Strait of Messina which separates the busy port city of Messina in Sicily and Reggio Calabria on the Italian mainland. Its precise epicentre has been pinpointed to the northern Ionian Sea area close to the narrowest section of the Strait, the location of Messina.^[4] It had a depth of 5–6 miles (8–10 km).

The earthquake almost levelled Messina. At least 91% of structures in Messina were destroyed or irreparably damaged and some 75,000 people were killed in the city and suburbs.^[5][6] Reggio Calabria and other locations in Calabria also suffered heavy damage, with some 25.000 people killed.^[5] Reggio's historic centre was almost completely eradicated.The number of casualties is based on the 1901 and 1911 census data. It was the most destructive earthquake to ever strike Europe.^[7] The ground shook for some 30 to 40 seconds,^[5][8] and the damage was widespread, with destruction felt within a 300-kilometer (186-mile) radius.^[5] In Calabria, the ground shook violently from Scilla to south of Reggio,^[5] provoking landslides inland in the Reggio area and along the sea-cliff from Scilla to Bagnara. In the Calabrian commune of Palmi on the Tyrrhenian coast, there was almost total devastation that left 600 dead. Damage was also inflicted along the eastern Sicilian coast, but outside of Messina, it was not as badly hit as Calabria. The mesoseismal area was confined near the coast along a 1–4 km wide belt that shook and destroyed Messina and surrounding villages. Catania, the largest city in eastern Sicily, did not incur notable damage.^[5]

A young doctor who escaped with his life later recounted that, moments before the earth started to rumble and violently shake Messina, there had been a sinister whistling sound which he likened to a thousand red hot irons burning in the water.^[8] Other survivors reported that there were three separate and different movements during the 30-40 second mainshock: the first shaking backwards and forwards, the second thrusting violently upwards, with the third moving in.a circular motion. All accounts concur that it was the second upwards motion that caused the widespread destruction in Messina; the accompanying noise described as having been exactly like that made by a fast train in a tunnel.^[9]

The elevated death toll was due to the fact that most people were asleep, and killed outright or buried alive in their beds, as their houses collapsed on top of them.^[10] Thousands were trapped under debris, suffering horrific injuries of which many would die.^[8] One week before the earthquake, 160,000 inhabitants were counted in the entire Messina commune.^[11] On 28 December, Messina was even more crowded than usual, due to the number of overnight visitors from outlying areas who had come to the city to see a performance of Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Aida," which had been staged the previous evening at the Vittorio Emanuele II theatre.^[8]