My Italy

Messina is the second largest city in Sicily, facing the Calabrian Peninsula across the Strait of Messina.

Messina has been riding on the spring breeze of Italian industrial development in recent years, and it is not bad. Although it cannot be compared with Palermo, which Italy mainly supports, Messina has achieved good development in food processing, wine brewing and ship maintenance in recent years due to its excellent geographical location and deep-water port.

The current war in the Balkans has not had a big impact on Messina. The residents of Messina still go to work and work.

When night falls, residents of Messina rush home to finish their day's work. The hustle and bustle of the city also subsided in the first half of the night, and gradually the residents of Messina fell asleep.

However, the residents of Messina did not know that deep underground in the Strait of Messina, a huge energy was about to erupt violently.

Speaking of which, the Strait of Messina is actually not peaceful at all. It is located on a stratigraphic fault zone. Since the time of the Roman Empire, geological disasters such as earthquakes and volcanoes have often erupted here, with the 1783 earthquake being the most serious.

The earthquake that erupted at that time caused volcanic eruptions and tsunamis, followed by floods caused by heavy rains, which immediately killed more than 30,000 Messina residents. After the earthquake, people found that many buildings such as churches had rotated 20 to 30 degrees clockwise, while some buildings were swept away by huge waves. In the following two months, there were many aftershocks in the area. According to statistics at the time, the earthquake killed more than 60,000 people. It was not until October 1786 that the earth returned to calm after this major earthquake.

At 5:22 on December 28, 1908, Messina had not yet woken up from the night, and most people were still asleep. At this time, an energy equivalent to 5 million tons of TNT is surging underground in the Strait of Messina.

"Boom!"

The huge energy caused the entire seabed of the Strait of Messina to shake, and the shaking became larger and larger, and soon spread to the surrounding areas.

At this time, Messina was also shaking. The magnificent bell towers, churches, and theaters collapsed one after another, and almost all the buildings were reduced to ruins. Because they couldn't bear the force, they collapsed one after another, and people were buried directly in their sleep without even screaming.

At this time, the remaining residents of Messina, who were awakened by the earthquake, immediately ran towards the open space in panic. Many of them were even naked. No one was laughing at each other at this moment. Everyone alive was doing the same thing with a look of horror on their faces. Something happened and ran to the surrounding open space.

At this time, they were standing in the open space, looking at the collapsed buildings around them, and no one felt good. They are basically poor people who have lost their husbands, wives, children, and parents. Looking at the buried buildings around him, the sound of pain rang out from his heart.

But their pain was not over yet. People at the beach were surprised to find that the sea water actually receded, revealing the dark bottom of the sea. The boats that docked sat directly on it. Many fish and shrimps could not afford to retreat and were left here. . There was a rumble in the distance, which confused the crowd at the beach. They didn't know what was making the noise, and everything was shrouded in the darkness of night.

But soon, the noise became louder and louder, as if there was a monster there. At this time, a black shadow slowly came over from the sea.

"No, it's a tsunami!"

At this time, a survivor let out a cry of horror. He pointed at the black shadow in the night with a shocked expression.

"Run!"

There was a loud roar among the survivors, and the people at the beach immediately ran to higher ground in panic.

"Don't push me."

"my shoes."

"Sara, where are you? Run! The tsunami is coming!"

The panicked crowd ran to higher ground, but how could anyone escape the tsunami. Before they could run far, a 12-meter-high wave came over. The breakwater did not play any role at all and was directly submerged. The surging waves destroyed everything, and the collapsed buildings were submerged in the sea water. The worst thing was the people who were trapped by the collapsed houses. The raging sea water poured directly into the cracks, and the calls for help gradually subsided.

At this time, Messina was mostly submerged by the incoming waves, and many corpses were washed out from the ruins. A human tragedy appeared in front of the survivors.

Looking at the tragedy in front of them, many people were crying. They were crying for their lost relatives and for other people who were killed. Messina was almost destroyed. Everything was caused by this 7.5-magnitude earthquake. s damage.

In addition to Messina, its surrounding villages were also hit by the earthquake and tsunami, especially the fishing villages on the seaside, which suffered huge losses. Among them, a fishing village called Dias suffered the most heavy losses. Except for a man who went out to look for sheep, everyone else in the village was killed in the earthquake and tsunami. After the man finally rushed back, he could only look at the ruins. The dead body sheds tears.

This earthquake occurred in the Strait of Messina. Although Messina suffered the most serious damage, it does not mean that other places will be fine. Calabria is a town on the other side of the strait. It also suffered from earthquakes and tsunamis. Like Messina, the sleeping people did not expect this disaster at all, and its losses were not much less than Messina.

In addition to these two places, Palermo, Naples and other places have suffered more or less losses. Some buildings have cracked and collapsed, and casualties have been recorded.

The earthquake was felt in Milan, Genoa, Turin and Rome, as well as in other European cities.

At the Royal Palace in Rome, Carlo had just comforted his frightened wife and children when he saw Prime Minister Cruz rushing over.

"Your Majesty, according to the information from the Seismological Observatory, this earthquake came from the Strait of Messina. We just sent a telegram to Messina, but it couldn't be reached at all. Then we sent it to surrounding cities, and they said they all suffered earthquakes. attacks, and coastal cities also suffered small tsunamis.”

Prime Minister Cruz's words let Carlo know the seriousness of the matter. Messina did not call back, indicating that its communications were blocked and the losses were absolutely serious. And the Prime Minister came to ask for support.

"Convene a cabinet meeting immediately. We need to send someone to Messina to understand the specific situation."

Following Carlo's order, the cabinet ministers quickly rushed to the palace. At the same time, information about the damage suffered in the surrounding area was constantly sent to Rome via radio waves, and Carlo also learned about the specific situation in the surrounding area one after another.

Catania (the third largest city in Sicily) sent a telegram stating that they had suffered an earthquake and tsunami, and that the loss of personnel and property was still being counted, but it was estimated that the loss of people and property exceeded 1,000 million.

Canistero (the second largest city in the province of Calabria) sent a telegram saying that they were hit by an earthquake and tsunami. The loss of people and property is being counted, but it is estimated that the loss of people is over 500, and the loss of property is 800. More than 10 million lire.

Palermo sent a telegram saying that they had also been hit by the earthquake, which caused damage to some houses with poor earthquake resistance. Hundreds of casualties have been reported, and property losses amounted to about 50 million lire. The major factories in Palermo have been inspected and there is no damage. They can operate normally. They only need to reassure the workers and they can continue to work.

A telegram came from Naples saying...

Catanzaro sent a telegram saying...

…

As governments from various places sent calls to report the damage, Carlo and government ministers quickly estimated the damage. Of course, the most important thing was that the damage information in Messina, the epicenter of the earthquake, had not yet been obtained, so the specific damage situation had to wait.

However, disaster statistics can wait, but disaster relief cannot wait.

"Everyone, the current situation in Messina is unclear. We need to send capable officials to Messina to organize disaster relief."

Carlo didn't wait for anyone else to speak this time and spoke first.

"No problem, Your Majesty, our government will immediately send people to Messina to organize disaster relief."

Prime Minister Cruz spoke with a serious expression. News was received from all sides, letting the Prime Minister know that the earthquake had caused considerable losses and that he, the Prime Minister, had a heavy burden.

"The dispatched personnel asked Alitalia's airship to transport them there, and also brought some medicine tents and other things."

After giving the Prime Minister advice, Carlo continued. "Next, the Ministry of Interior immediately mobilized disaster relief supplies from various places, including tents, rain boots, food, medicine digging machines, water purification systems, etc., and immediately tallied them up and transferred them to Messina."

The new Interior Minister Sergi Bruguera, who was named by Carlo, immediately agreed. "Your Majesty, I will arrange for people to count and draw points."

After getting the answer from the Minister of the Interior, Carlo continued to name "In addition to the army, the army immediately sent troops to Messina. In addition, the surrounding disaster-stricken areas need to send personnel. In addition to ensuring the local security situation, the army also needs to carry out Personnel rescue and search. In addition, the army also needs to bring supplies for disaster relief. Tents, excavation equipment, water purification equipment, and canned military rations all need to be brought into Messina."

Carlo then went on to name other ministers, all with requests for disaster relief. Tasks such as publicizing disaster relief, organizing volunteer rescue, donating money and materials, etc. were all assigned to each person one by one.

The meeting didn't last long, and all the ministers felt a little strange after the meeting, because the king was making requests alone throughout the meeting, while they were like subordinates, each leading their own tasks. There was no discussion or argument in the middle, which was totally unaccustomed.

In addition, this disaster relief is also different from the current European countries. There is always a sense of government responsibility, taking care of everything and doing everything, and it has the meaning of military control.

Although it feels weird, no one dares to be careless. Over the years, it has become clear to everyone that the king's strict orders must be obeyed or else his political career will end. We are all people who are dedicated to serving the country. How can we accept that the Kingdom does not want their contributions?

Therefore, the rescue work had already started on the day of the earthquake.