The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1915-01-19
100000 HOMELESS
List Of Victims Increases as De-
tailed Reports Roll In.
RELIEF WORK BEING PUSHED

Districts Of the Province Of The
Abruzzl-Avsxzano a Town Of 16,-
900, Totally Wrecked--Face Of the
Stricken Area Altered In Thirty
Seconds.
Rome, Jan. 15.--The second great.
est catastrophe in the history of
Italy-the earthquake which shook
half Of Italy for only thirty seconds.
Wednesday, yet killed 10000 persons.
injured 10000, rendered 100000
homeless and did incalculable ma.
terial damages becoming more
reallzable as each hour brings in from
the people Of the stricken country
side reports Of the harm done.
Every train that leaves the capital
carries its quota of physicians,
nurses, sanitarians, soldiers and civil
officials bound for wrecked towns and
villages, with nuge quantities of sup
plies OF every sort. Other trains,
coming in slowly over disturbed and
IN some cases almost ruined road
beds, are bringing great throng Of
refugees. who are being taken into
every home In Rome and cared for.
The cabinet met and adopted meas
ures Of relief on large scale. The
military authorities have sent out
5000 soldiers to prevent loOting and
to preserve order in the seventy-seven
towns which have been wholly or par
TALLY destroyed.
The Stricken Area.
The area shaken extends from Fer
rara in the north to below Naples in
the south, distance of slightly more
than 300 miles, from the Tyrrhenian
sea to the Adriatic, taking in the dis
tricts of Tuscany, Latium, Umbria,
The Abruzzi and part of Campania.
The quake rolled the waters of the
yellow Tiber, shook the crests Of the
purple Apennines" ana heaped up the
sands on the eastern shores. Great
waves rolled up in the Adriatic, giant
trees careened violently in the noun
tains. and everywhere was pertinent
evidence of a cataclysm of nature.
Perhaps the greatest loss of life was
in the isolated districts of the prov
inoe Of The Abruzzi, where thousands
Of mOuntaineers live In lonely soil.
tude. far from towns and VILLAGES.
Communication under the most favor
able conditions Is poor in that region
and at this season Of the year. when
the hills are clad In snow. the difl-
Guilty OF hearing from the sufferers is
iDcalculable. The situation is rem.
dered still worse by the fact that the
geography of al central and southern
italy has been altered In thirty sec
onds so that the most astute geogra.
piers would scarcely know 1t.
Seventy Towns Razsd.
As telephone, telegraphic and traffic
communications are gradually re-
stored. the tales Of sorrow are rolling
In upon the authorities here In such
! measure that even the most ardent
relief activity can scarcely cope with
the situation. 1t seems now that the
effect Of the shock In Rome, great
though 1t was, was slight In compari.
son with the result In the provinces to
the north, east and south. Naples
felt the blow of the quake. and far to
the north Florence and Bologna Quiv-
cred In their turn.
In the district surrounding Sulmo.
ma, southeast OF Aquila, there was ex-
tensive damage done and numerous
victims are reported. The towns Of
Popoli. Roccacasale. Sora, Raiano,
Vittorito, Pentina. Partola. Poligna,
Prezza, ROccapia. Pottorano. Anversa
and other places are In ruins. Scano
sends word OF twenty dead and many
hurt, with the probability Of the cas-.
ualties increasing. Village has been
almost leveled and Frsttura is scarce.
ly in existence now. At Sora 200 dead
bodies were found. In every town
the lists Of dead and injured are In.
complete. because there is no telling
~ yet how many men. women and
children are lifeless beneath tho
wreckags.
A train which left AQuila Just be-
fore the earth upturnsd has not been
heard from. It was crowded witt.
people going to Rome for the relj.
gious festivities and 1t is feared that
mountain slide may have crushed
many Of the passengers.
Rigpavo. Zagarole. Ponzano, Men.
tana and Anguillara are badly dam
aged. The hospital At AQuila was
shaken down and q number of help-