Thread by @NickWhithorn

5.20 a.m. Monday 28 December 1908, the city of Messina is asleep. The evening before saw the inauguration of the city's new public lighting system & a Christmas performance of Verdi's "Aida" at the Vittorio Emanuele Theatre. In 37 seconds, theatre & city are no more [Thread] >> 1

Messina is a prosperous port city; indeed, the port is crowded with ships, as usual, in the early morning of 28 December. Along the port stands the imposing Palazzata (photo), rebuilt after the destructive earthquake of 1783, along with most other buildings in the city >> 2

At 5:20:27 an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale strikes Messina and the city of Reggio Calabria on the other side of the Strait. It lasts 37 interminable seconds. When it ends, hardly a building is standing intact in either city >> 3

Fires break out all over Messina due to broken gas pipes, as dazed & confused survivors begin to dig with through the rubble with their bare hands in search of family members. A dark cloud of dust hangs over the city. It is cold and heavy rain begins to fall >> 4

Many survivors flee to the safety of the shoreline to escape frequent gas explosions & fires, as well as the danger of being buried under collapsing buildings. Thousands gather here looking back in disbelief at the spectre of their once propsperous city, relieved to be alive >> 5

Their relief is to be short-lived & their sense of safety illusory. A huge tsunami sweeps along the coastline of the Strait, varying in height from 6 to 12 metres, depending on the locality. Thousands of people are drowned and greater destruction is heaped upon the city >> 6

The aftermath of the earthquake & tsunami is terrifying. Law & order breaks down. Three quarters of the city's police officers & their Chief are dead, only 41 out of over 200 Guardia di Finanza officers & only 14 out of 800 Carabinieri survive the collapse of their barracks >> 7

On the other hand, almost all the criminals held in the city's prison, over 400 of them, escape unharmed and are free to loot and pillage among the ruins. They target the vaults of various banks and the courthouse, where they set fire to the archives >> 8

Anywhere between 80,000 & 90,000 of Messina's 140,000 inhabitants are dead or dying. Medical aid is virtually unavailable. The hospital has collapsed and only 11 people out of over 200 patients, doctors & nurses have escaped alive >> 9

Telegraph lines are down and railway lines are seriously damaged. There is no way of asking for help and the only way it can arrive, when it finally does, is by sea. The only immediate rescue efforts also come from the sea, from the crews of ships anchored in the port >> 10

There are 6 Italian Royal Navy ships in port, the largest being 'Piemonte' (photo) with a crew of almost 300. Its Captain has perished in the catastrophe having gone ashore the previous evening to spend the night with his family >> 11

The rest of the crew, and those of the other Navy vessels, finally succeed in getting ashore at about 8 a.m. after the torpedo ship 'Saffo' manages to open a passage through the debris and drifting shipwrecks in the harbour >> 12

Meanwhile, another Italian Navy vessel, "Spica" sets sail in rough seas in search of an undamaged telegraph station to send news to Rome & request help. Along with Italian Navy sailors, crew members of numerous merchant vessels in port come ashore to help in rescue efforts >> 13

Among merchant ships at anchor in Messina that tragic morning are British vessels SS 'Ebro' of Wilson Line, registered in Hull; SS 'Afonwen' of W & CT Jones Steamship Co., registered in Cardiff; SS 'Drake' of General Stream Navigation Co., registered in London & SS 'Mariner' >>14

Their crews, along with others, are the first to come ashore & bring aid to the stricken city. These merchant ships & Italian Navy vessels mostly leave Messina in the following days, carrying wounded & refugees to Palermo, Siracusa & Naples, as better equipped ships arrive >> 15

Meanwhile, the Italian Navy ship "Spica" is sailing up the coast of Calabria, in rough seas, in search of the first available undamaged telegraph station to notify the government in Rome of the situation. A message is finally sent from Marina di Nicotera at 5.25 p.m. >> 16

Nonetheless, the telegraph lines north of Nicotera are probably damaged as the message does not reach Rome until 8.30 p.m.
There have been rumours of the tragic events, as the earthquake has been detected by instruments without it being possible to pinpoint the location >> 17

Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti (photo), when hearing these rumours, dismisses them as "the umpteenth tiresome grumble from southerners over the collapse of a few chimney pots". When the message from Nicotera arrives, however, it is clear that something tragic has happened >> 18

The first outside help to reach Messina in the morning of 29 December is the arrival of Russian warships 'Cesarevič', 'Slava' & 'Makarov', joined soon afterwards by British naval vessels 'Sutlej' & 'Boxer'. Further Russian & British warships arrive in the following days >> 19

Both Russian & British sailors contributed greatly to relief efforts after the earthquake but, for some reason, it is the Russians (photo) who have stuck in Messina's collective memory (albeit a very vague memory, see below), while the British have mostly been forgotten >> 20

There is only one monument in Messina regarding the 1908 earthquake (photo) & it is dedicated to the Russian sailors who intervened. Even then, this monument was only unveiled in 2012. There is no monument to Italian, British or other rescuers & no memorial to the victims >> 21

The first Italian Navy vessels arrive during the night of 29-30 December after loading provisions, medical supplies & personnel in Naples. On board one of these, "Vittorio Emanuele", King Victor Emmanuel III (photo) & Queen Elena also land in Messina at dawn on 30 December >> 22

When they land, they are met by the Mayor, Gaetano D'Arrigo, who complains that Italian help has been slow to arrive & the Russians got there first. He is relieved of his duties, though this is probably due to him fleeing the city for 24 hours rather than his remark >> 23

Martial law is declared & General Francesco Mazza (photo) is placed in command. Despite having plenty of troops at his disposal, Mazza proves not to be up to the monumental task he faces. He is unable to control his own men & incapable of resolving huge logistical problems >> 24

The press criticise Mazza's handling of the situation, citing examples of looting by Italian soldiers & summary executions of people accused of looting who were digging for personal possessions in the ruins of their own home. After just 2 months, Mazza is replaced >> 25

General Mazza's incompetence became so legendary that it is thought to be the possible origin of the Italian expression "non capire una mazza", meaning 'to be clueless' >> 26

Initially, after the earthquake, many supported the idea of abandoning the city & rebuilding it elsewhere, such was the task of removing rubble. However, protests by survivors & the excellent natural harbour led to this being shelved & the city was rebuilt on the same site >> 27

As for the legacy of the quake in Messina, I mentioned above that collective memory is hazy at best. Until 2012, when the memorial to Russian sailors was inaugurated, there was nothing to remind inhabitants or visitors of what happened, almost as if people wanted to forget >> 28

Perhaps, this is the reason. People don't want to be reminded that such a disaster could strike at any moment. If you visit Messina you'll notice the lack of historic buildings, which are plentiful in other Italian & Sicilian cities, even those that have suffered earthquakes >>29

Just about the only building mostly predating 1908 is the Chiesa dei Catalani (photo). You can see that it stands about two metres below current street level, showing just how much the ground rose >> 30

Other buildings that may seem historic are just reconstructions. Take the Cathedral (photo) for example. This is a postwar reconstruction, of the post-1908 earthquake reconstruction of the post-1783 earthquake reconstruction...ok, you get the idea >> 31

Postwar reconstructions are also common as Messina, being a strategic port city, was heavily bombed by the Allies in 1943. Ironically, the buildings put up after the earthquake had antiseismic designa and their basic structure stood up quite well to the bombing >> 32

As a result, aerial photography showed less damage than the reality on the ground. Buildings were uninhabitable or unusable though still standing. The Allies, unaware of this, just bombed more and more heavily >> 33

To end this thread just a mention of one legacy of the 1908 earthquake that, incredibly and to the eternal shame of generations of politicians & administrators, still lingers in Messina: shanty towns (photos) >> 34

Wooden shanty towns sprang up as temporary accommodation around the edges of the city as reconstruction got under way. They grew as people from other parts of Sicily & Calabria came looking for work in the reconstruction or for new opportunities in the 'new' city >> 35

Nowadays, they are not wooden, of course, but around 8,000 of the city's poorest people still live in them, in appalling conditions, in Europe, in 2020, 112 years after the earthquake //36 ends