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Show H ' f-f wwe tit . . I : KILLS 12,000; INJURES I :. 20,000; ROCKS CITIES I 8000 Dead in Avezzano. Shock Takes I Heavy Toll Also in Other Towns in H Province of Rome and the Abruzzi. H People in Panic. Grave Disaster at I ' Potenza, City of 20,000 Residents. B Homo, Jnn 1U. A terrific earth- 1 quake, the strongest ovor felt In m Ronio occurred carl)1' today. It lasted B Eovcral seconds and caused a serious B panic, peoplo ovorywlierc rushing m from their houses In terror. Many H buildings wero damaged. B ', So far as could be learned one 1 hour after the quake, no lives were B iost. Nor was it possible to reach B any dcllnlto Idea of the degreo of H the damage suffered by the city. m ,,' There, was confusion throughout Bj tho whole of Homo. In somo cases B it amounted to terror. The telophono B yns resorted to by great numbers of B coi)lo nt virtually the same time In B endearcrs to ascertajn the safety of B i datives and friends, nnd then to B learn tha extent of the damage to BB BB The tali-phono girls did their best B to meet tlio emergency. A system of B gathering and giving Information was B hurriedly Inaugurated. B Famous Oulldlngs Damaged H It was learned early In the day that Baa among the old buildings damagod BBB wa8 tho Palazzo Chlgl as well as tho B famous column of Marcus Aurellus. B Historic buildings on the I'lazza, Co- B lonna, In tho center of Rome, nlso B "were damaged, as was also tho fam H ous Fnrncso palace, occupied by the K French embassy. Here a piece of B stono cornlco had fallen. B Tho belfry of the church of St. An- B drea Is In danger of falling and tho B building has been surrounded by a B cordon of pollco to prevent peoplo H from approaching It. B A largo crowd gathered this morn- B lng In the squaro In tho front of the B column of Marcus Aurellus. At n B point about half way up It was seen B that tho column had been broken and B twisted. It was at least six Inches B from its truo axis. The immense H bronzo statuto of St. Paul on top of H the column also Inclines to ouo slda. Tho last serious earthquake In the Homo district occurred July 19, ISO1). Homo, FrascatI, Marino and other towns on tho Alban hills felt the shock nnd many buildings were da lunged, lu-nged, but thoro was no loss of life. Further south in Italy nnd In Sally, howeor, enrihquakos aro frequen and very scveif Orent loan of lif nnd heavy damago to property ,havq occurred in theso'.' rdglons''S . '', |
